Fight for Survival
by DemonFireX
Summary: Jason Harlow never felt like he had a purpose in life. An aspiring MMA fighter with a casual existance that he was more than happy with. But fate, and a freak accident changed everything. Now surrounded by the undead with a young companion at his side, he'll have to use all his skills as a fighter just to survive one day at a time. Rated-M for Violence, Gore and Language.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Oh, it feels good to be back! I know that everyone is expecting big updates on my current stories and the series', but while I was in rehab I sat down and started playing the Walking Dead and became hooked almost instantly. The story was compelling, the characters were well rounded and the suspense, horror and thrills behind it all really dragged out the good qualities.**

**Not to mention the shock value at the end of each episode that dragged you farther and farther into the story and keeping your interest to the very end. **

**I couldn't help but start writing an OC adaptation to the franchise and now I'm using its creation to bring me back into the world of fanfiction. So sit back, grab a drink, and enjoy the ride! (By the way, Major Spoilers for those that haven't played or heard about the game.)**

**Disclaimer: I still own jack shit!**

**Prologue:**

_The cool, crisp breeze of autumn air slowly swept over the landscape. Kicking up leaves and twigs, sending them lazily through the air amongst the field of tall-yellow grass. Dusk had begun to fall over the landscape, painting the skies a collection of orange, purple and red hues as the sun slowly began to set over the horizon._

_Steel-toed sneakers crunched the dried grass and loose gravel softly as the one wearing them walked through the field. A young male, 5'11'' in height wearing jeans with the knees ripped open, a black long-sleeve thermal shirt underneath a worn, denim jacket that had the sleeves torn off long ago. _

_He had dirty blonde hair that was matted to his head from sweat and a long period of not being washed, an angular and handsome face with a pair of piercing, ice-blue eyes that stared out at the hills head of him. His gaze reflecting that he had seen an experienced things that he would never forget in this lifetime or the next._

_Looking down in his arms, the little girl he was carrying shifted a little before settling down again. Her face pressed into the crook of his neck, baseball cap pulled down over her eyes while she slept soundly. The red Brooklyn hoodie she was wearing over her tan dress was covered in black, rotten blood similar to what was stained on his own clothes, the smell still lingering but his senses having already grown used to it._

_The two of them had been through a lot together...been through hell and then some. But through it all they had endured, they had thrived, but most of all they had survived. They'd made friends, lost friends, and took everything that this horrifying world had thrown at them and still managed to make it through._

_His heart went out to the ones they had lost, each one of them brave in their own ways and would forever be remembered by the two of them. But they had to push on, keep moving forward, and stay one step ahead of the never ending plague that surrounded them on all sides. _

_It wasn't personal, it was about survival. And making sure that he and his charge made it through all this horror was his only priority._

_"Jason...?" He looked down to see a pair of bright, hazel eyes looking up at him from under the baseball cap she wore._

_"Yeah, sweetheart?" he asked giving her a gentle smile. _

_The little girl bit her lip in thought before speaking again, "We're gonna make it...right?" she asked timidly. After everything they had gone through she had every right to be more than a bit unsure given their situation. _

_He stopped by a lone standing tree, the leaves long since blown off with the changing season, settling down on a downed log and adjusting the girl in his lap so that she was more comfortable. "We'll be fine, Clem." he replied. "We just gotta keep moving, remember what I taught you after we first met?" _

_She nodded, " 'Movement equals survival'." she recited perfectly even after all this time. Another breeze blew through the air and she curled into him more for warmth, his grip on her tightened a little to help ward it off for her sake. "Do you think the others made it?" she asked after a few moments._

_"I'm sure they did, we can't give up hope sweetheart. That's pretty much all we have left in the world, without that...we have nothing." Jason said as he looked out at the horizon and watched the sun slowly continue its descent behind the hills. He felt the girl start to shutter and looked down to see her crying, large tears cascading down her tan-colored cheeks as she attempted to keep her sobs inside._

_"Clementine? Sweetheart?" he asked gently raising her face to look at him. What he saw broke his heart, the innocence that he had seen when they first met had dimmed so much that it was barely there anymore. She had seen and experienced things that no child should ever have, a part of him hated himself for not being able to shield her from such things. But in the end it couldn't be helped, keeping her ignorant to what was happening wouldn't have done any good for her and she needed to know how to protect herself if something should ever happen and he wasn't there._

_Jason held her close, her little arms gone around his neck as she sobbed into his chest. "I'm so sorry, baby-girl." he whispered while resting his head on top of hers. _

_Clementine leaned back, fixing her watery gaze on his. "I...I don't wanna lose you too. Like...Like my..." she clenched her eyes and began crying again as she was pulled back into her guardian's embrace._

_"You won't." he said with conviction. "No matter what happens, no matter what it takes, I won't leave you alone. I know I can't replace..." he paused, being sure not to say something to hurt her even more. "I know I can't replace them, Clem. But I will be there for you for as long as you need me. Despite everything we've been through, we're a family. And nothing will take that away from us."_

_The girl tightened her grip on him, "Promise?" she asked hopefully._

_"I promise." came the reply. They sat there in silence, watching the sunset and taking a well deserved break, they would start moving again soon, hopefully finding shelter before nightfall when things were at their most dangerous._

_All the while Jason thought back to when all this had started, how he had wound up in the situation that he was in now. Ripped from a life where he had no real purpose, to a whole new existence filled with terror and danger around every corner where he needed to be resourceful and a quick thinker._

_It had happened so suddently...and he definitely didn't see it coming..._

_**X Months Prior X**_

23-year-old Jason Harlow opened his eyes slowly, his vision slowly swimming back into focus as he yawned loudly before sitting up on the small couch of his one bedroom apartment. The tv had been left on and was currently showing the main menu of the latest season of The Walking Dead that he had bought the day before, his Xbox 360 humming loudly in the quiet living room.

Standing up, he bent back a bit until he felt his back pop in a few places, stretching his arms to the sides to wake them up. The clock on the wall above the entertainment center read that it was 9:33AM and reminded him that he had to be at work in another hour.

"Damn, last time I stay up all night catching up on the series." he muttered to himself, walking over to the game system and switching it off before heading into the bathroom to finish waking up and getting ready for the day.

His apartment was small, but comfortable for just him. He'd been living in Chicago for the last two years on his own after dropping out of college. An action that had caused a lot of friction between him and his family.

The Harlows were a very well off family, Jason was the middle child with an older brother who was in school to be a neurosurgeon and a little sister who would be graduating at the top of her class in high-school soon and had plans to become a lawyer. Their parents were well known in their community and kept themselves in what they believed to be the highest standards.

But that was something Jason didn't want to be a apart of. He was the black-sheep of the family, his grades in school weren't ever good enough, neither were his hobbies, friends or any plans for the future that he wanted for himself. His folks had plans for him and he didn't want any part of them.

When he refused to go into the profession that his dad wanted him to be in, he was threatened to be cut off from the family funds and would be left on his own. Jason just stared into his father's eyes a moment before turning on his heel, his dorm room was fully packed in an hour, loaded into his car and he was gone.

That had been the last time he had spoken to anyone in his family. He was sick of the mind games, the mental and emotional abuse, and the feeling of not leveling up to their standards. They wanted to cut him off? They failed to realize that he was very capable of standing on his own two feet without their money.

He found his current home not long after breaking away from everyone, finding a job at a local auto body shop that paid more than enough for his expenses while continuing his dream of being a fighter.

Even while in high-school, he frequented the gym for personal fitness sakes, but had found himself interested in Mixed Martial Arts and had taken to it like a duck to water. But knowing his folks and siblings would give him hell for it he kept it a secret, improving his skills and strengths whenever he could.

Now all these years later, he had been apart of several amature matches which had helped him catch the eye of several sponsors that would help him get into the professional circuit.

Stepping out of the shower, towel wrapped around his waist, he wiped at the fogged up mirror and got a good look at himself. The last two years had been good to him, his form a bit ripped from all the work and exercise he had put himself through which had caught the eyes of a lot of women that came through the shop were he worked and the gym down the street he went to twice a week.

Many would consider his life boring and mundane, but to him it was comfortable and had decided to live in the moment instead of stressing too much about the future. And despite his upbringing, he was instilled with a good moral compass and had a good heart because of it. Some would say he didn't have a real purpose in the world, but his reply would have been that he just hadn't found it yet.

After throwing on his steel-toed sneakers, a pair of jeans and a plain-black t-shirt, Jason went out to the kitchen and made himself a quick breakfast before leaving his apartment and heading down to the parking lot where his car was waiting.

"Hay Jase!" the blonde perked up and saw one of his neighbors/friends Mark outside his apartment smoking a cigarette. They became friends not too long after Jason had moved in along with Mark's girlfriend Abby. They'd all hang out once a week and just do whatever came to them at the time, the couple also went to all the matches the college dropout had taken part in.

"Headin' into work?" Mark asked taking another drag.

"Yeah, gotta weeks worth of vacation coming thankfully. I got that match two towns over and I need to be ready for it." he replied while taking out his car keys.

Mark smirked, "Me an Abby wouldn't miss it. You still coming by tonight? Mid-Season finally of Walking Dead's on."

Jason chuckled, ever since he was a kid he loved the concept of the 'zombie-apocalypse'. Watching movies and playing video games that depicted such events growing up, he held strongly to it even now. AMC's series based from the graphic novels was very compelling and he had been watching it since it first aired, he also heard about the game episodes on Xbox Live and had been considering downloading them during his time off work.

"I'll bring the beers, see ya later Mark." he said getting into his car and heading out for the day.

Back in his apartment, the young man's Xbox suddenly kicked on. The green power light located on the front of the device glowed brightly before it started blinking at one second intervals, a loud hum filling the room as it began working in overdrive.

X

It was around midnight when Jason dragged himself through the front door of his apartment. Work had been a bit rough, two cars with cracked engine blocks that needed to be repaired, another needed extensive frame repairs, and one poor bastard had cracked his rear-axel in half attempting to do off road tricks.

Luckily he had managed to get everything he needed to done, said his goodbyes to his friends at the shop before finally starting his vacation. Stopping at the store and grabbing a couple of six packs before meeting up with everyone at Matt and Abby's apartment.

The end of the mid-season finally was a one hell of a ride, and left a lot of them wondering what the hell was going to happen next. Jason personally wouldn't have minded squaring off against the Governor, give the one-eyed bastard a beat down he wouldn't forget before leaving him for the walkers to eat.

Jason shook his head and rubbed his temple, "Gotta lay off the zombie shit, now I'm thinking up non-realistic fantasies..." heading into the living room and dropping his keys on the table by the couch, he paused when he heard a soft, yet loud humming echoing around him. Looking toward the tv, he saw that his Xbox was on, the green light in the center glowing brightly and blinking every other second.

"What the hell? Didn't I shut you off?" he wondered, heading over to the console and finding the thing was almost burning to the touch from overworking. He pressed the power-button again only for the humming and blinking to persist. "Huh..." grabbing the remote, he switched the tv on and checked to see if something was malfunctioning.

The main home screen appeared, his avatar waving at him while standing on an invisible pedestal with all the different options surrounding it. A second later a window popped up covering everything. **'Download Complete'** "Download? Must have been an update or something." Jason mumbled as he picked up a controller and canceled the screen, going into his hard drive menu to see what had been added.

After a few minutes he found it, in his Games section a new add-on had appeared. 'Walking Dead: Season One Episodes 1-5' was at the front of his selection.

Confused, Jason leaned back against the coffee table behind him as he tried to figure out how this was possible. He didn't pay for anything, his account funds were empty and he had no credit cards. "Okay...odd. Maybe I won some kind of online prize when I wasn't paying attention." deciding to just roll with it, he selected the game and started it up to see what it was all about.

Settling back and getting more comfortable, he perked up when another screen suddenly appeared. **'Warning: Malfunction Detected. Do you wish to continue? A: Yes, B: No'**

Shrugging it off, he pushed the A button on his controller and making the screen vanish. His Xbox hummed even louder than before, so loud that it filled the whole room. Jason gripped the sides of his head, the device in his hands falling to the floor as a headache the likes of which he had never felt before ripped through his skull like a meat grinder.

Falling to his side, eyes clenched shut as the pain and the noise got worse, glowing cracks started to split open along the outer casing of the game system. The tv screen shook and sparked as one final window appeared. **'How will you survive?' **The Xbox glowed brightly one final time before exploding in a large flash of green-white light, spreading throughout the whole room and making it too blinding to see anything.

Moments later, the light slowly faded. Revealing the smoldering husk of the gaming console, the tv above it cracked and no longer functioning with sparks coming out of it. The power all throughout the apartment complex had gone out plunging the whole building into total darkness and startling all of the residents.

Across the floor from the entertainment system was a blackened scorch mark in the carpet where the occupant of the one apartment once laid.

Jason Harlow had completely vanished without a trace.

X

Pain...that was the first conscientious thought that he could register as he came to. His brain felt several sizes too big for his skull and had the feeling of being crushed in a vise. Body feeling completely numb, making it hard to figure out where he was.

Opening his eyes slowly, his vision swam with various colors and shades before settling into focus. Jason blinked a couple of times as he tried to figure out just what the hell was happening.

Instead of looking up at the ceiling of his apartment in his living room, he found himself instead laying on his back in what looked to be a forest, a small canopy of trees several feet above his head blocking out what rays of sunlight that was streaming down on the grass he was now laying on.

"Wha...?" he mumbled as feeling started seeping back into his limbs. Flexing his fingers first, then his hands and feet, going through every motion to be sure that his whole body was still functioning properly before rolling on to his side and sat up slowly on his knees to get a better look around. "What the hell...happened? Where am I?" he muttered while gripping the side of his head, the pain from before still pounding strong before slowly fading away.

The songs of birds chirping in the branches above and the feeling of grass under his hands made him realize that he wasn't dreaming. Dreams weren't _this_ vivid. With that in mind he tried to figure out how he had gotten here and where exactly _here_ was.

Standing up slowly, Jason staggered a step forward and used a nearby tree for support as he got feeling back in his legs. _"Christ...did someone slip me a roofie at Mark and Abby's last night?"_ Sweeping his glance along all of the foliage around him, he saw a small opening in the trees roughly ten meters away which probably led to a clearing, or hopefully civilization so he could find out where he was.

Finding his footing, Jason began picking his way along the uneven terrain toward the opening. "I swear, if the guys from the shop pulled some kind of fucking prank on me there will be hell to pay." he growled while climbing over a downed tree and continuing forward. He looked up and saw that the light had started fading already, from what he could tell the sun was starting to set somewhere in the distance.

"That doesn't make sense, it was midnight when I got home...have I been out for an entire day?" Jason wondered as he picked around a thorn bush. The snapping of a branch made him spin around and look back the way he had came, but there wasn't anything there.

However, the birds that had been chirping were now missing. In fact the whole forest seemed to be in a state of eery silence that had his instincts on high-alert all of a sudden.

"Hello?" he called out, looking everywhichway for anyone. When no one answered he turned back to the opening in the trees and pushed forward, his feet moving a little more quickly than before. Normally this kind of thing didn't bother him, he'd been hiking and mountain climbing before and knew all about how to be safe in the wild. But something about the situation didn't sit well with him, a forest shouldn't be this quiet, there weren't any animals, insects...nothing.

Almost as if something had scared them all off.

Shaking off the bad vibes he was getting, Jason walked through the treeline and found himself facing a more brightly lit section of the wooded area. More spaces in the canopy of trees above allowed more light to shine down revealing several ridges, hills and large stones. And off to the far left was a large slope that led up to a guard rail above.

A smirk lit up his face, a guard rail ment a road, and a road meant a way back home. He started moving around the trees and rocks while making his way toward the slope, rounding another wide trunk only to stop mid-stride.

At the base of the steep incline was the mangled wreck that had once been a police cruiser. The tail end of the vehicle was smashed into the dirt and crushed up toward the back window that was completely shattered, the roof was caved in and the driver's side door was barely hanging by twisted hinges.

Jason had seen a fair number of car wrecks similar to this to know what had happened, and the large grooves carved into the dirt all leading up to a torn opening in the guard rail at the top proved it. The driver must have lost control for one reason or another and went through it before rolling down the steep hill, coming to rest at the bottom.

Swallowing in an attempt to wet his dry throat, he approached the wreck and began looking around for the driver. It was even worse up close, the inside looked just as bad as the outside and there didn't appear to be any sign of the officer. However there was a couple of bloody handprints around the door and steering wheel.

Looking down to the ground, Jason found a small pool of blood in the grass. A 12-gauge shotgun laid next to it along with a stray shell that looked to have been dropped mid-load. "Looks like they were hurt...but why would they take out their weapon?" he wondered picking up the gun, the faint smell from the barrel telling him that it had been fired recently.

Going back to the car, the shotgun slipped from the young man's hands when he read **'Atlanta Police Department' **along the side among the dirt painted on it. "What?" he brushed the dirt off the door to be sure that he wasn't seeing things and saw that it was still the same. He got to his feet in a second and approached the back and knelt down to where the license plate was located.

The tell tale white color and the image of a peach was easily seen amongst the identification number of the vehicle. And above that **'Georgia' **could be easily seen in bold green letters. "Okay this isn't fucking funny!"he said standing back up and looking around, anger filling him along with confusion as to what was happening and why he seemed to be on the opposite side of the country.

A soft groan perked his ears up and he snapped his head to the side where it had come from. He saw a trail of blood that led from the car, a couple of meters away toward a tree that was surrounded by a small cluster of rocks.

And among the rocks was a man in a police uniform laying face down in the dirt.

"Oh shit!" Jason was moving before the words completely left his mouth, running over to the downed man and kneeling down next to him. The man had greying hair and was bald at the top of his head, his skin was ashen pale which was most likely caused by all the blood that he had lost.

"Officer? Hay officer!" he said shaking the prone man lightly to try and get a reaction. Jason pressed his fingers to the officer's neck in search of a pulse, feeling along the oddly wax-like texture of the man's skin hoping to find a heart beat.

After a few seconds of trying he pulled his hand away, feeling the blood drain from his face. "Fuck...he's dead." Jason muttered sitting back on his hunches, running his other hand down his face and taking a deep breath while he tried to figure out what to do now.

A groan from the downed man pulled him from his thoughts instantly. "Officer?" he asked touching the man's shoulder and leaning down to look at his face. The mans hand twitched and his head rose slowly-

He then lunged at the younger man, an animalistic growl coming from deep in his throat as he attempted to grab at Jason who threw himself back out of his reach.

"WHOA! WHAT THE FUCK!" he shouted, falling back on his ass and scrambling back as the officer raised himself on his arms. Half his face had been torn off revealing red-pink and still bleeding muscle underneath, a pair of eyes that were filmed over with a pale, blue-white color locked on to the young fighter as a rumbling groan filled with need and hunger rose from his throat.

_"No..."_ Jason thought with his heart hammering in his chest and blood freezing in his veins. _"No...their not real! This can't be real!" _Bloodied teeth snapped viciously as the creature began crawling toward him. The fighter crawled back with everything he had, putting as much distance between him and it as much as he could.

Real or not, he didn't want to take the chance of the thing getting within grabbing, or biting, distance.

His back hit the side of the police cruiser leaving him with nowhere else to go, the creature continued to crawl after him, intestines from its torn stomach trailing behind it leaving another trail right next to the one from before. Jason looked everywhere for something, anything that he could use as a weapon, eyes landing on the shotgun he found before he wasted no time in picking it up, pressing the stock to his shoulder as he aimed at the officer.

"Stay the fuck away from me!" he shouted as the creature continued to draw closer. He pulled the trigger and was rewarded with a light click meaning the weapon was empty, "Shit!" he cursed before remembering the stray shotgun shell he saw laying nearby.

The undead officer was drawing ever closer, there was only a couple of feet between them as Jason searched hastily for the stray shell. Managing to find it on his opposite side, quickly jamming it into the chamber and racking the pump, he took aim at the creature as it reached out and grabbed his right foot.

_Boom!_ The weapon kicked against his shoulder and the officer's head was blown open with a fountain of blood, bone and grey matter. Splattering gore across the ground behind him before the body collapsed with the top right half of the skull completely gone.

Breathing heavily, Jason tossed the spent shotgun aside out of his shaking hands as he looked down at the corpse. Dark blood oozing out of the destroyed head and spreading into a wide pool under it. "I...I'm dreaming..." he said to himself. "This has to be a dream. I fell asleep on my couch and I had too much walking dead on the brain and this is the outcome." He leaned forward and banged the back of his head against the car, wincing when he felt the impact but everything around him remained the same.

"God, what the hell is all this? How did I get here?" he asked himself for what felt like the eighth time.

While he looked at the now completely dead cop, Jason saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking up through the spaces amongst the trees, he saw a small form in the distance looking his way. "HAY! Get help! There's been a shooting!" he called out to the person as they turned around and disappeared out of sight.

The fighter pulled himself to his feet using the car as support, the sounds of shuffling feet and breaking twigs could be heard off to the right. Jason looked up and saw movement amongst the trees, a small group of forms moving into the light revealing several pale, rotting corpses staggering through the foliage. Arms raised and mouths agape as though they were looking for sustenance.

"Oh shit," He turned to the other side and saw three more monsters skulking out into the open, all of them drawn out from the gunshot and shouting that had happened. A pair of torn arms shot out of the shattered back window, handcuffs still binding the hands as they tried to grasp at the young fighter who stumbled back and tripped over the corpse he had shot earlier.

Adrenaline rushing through his system, Jason scrambled back to his feet before spinning on his heel and running full speed toward where he had saw the person in the distance. All around him more corpses were stumbling and shuffling their way toward him through the forest, hunger and the promise of fresh meat driving them while the fighter kept moving. Vaulting over rocks and a few downed trees as he kept a safe distance from the coming horde.

One corpse laid slumpt against one of the trees reached out to grab him as he ran past, one of its arms severed at the wrist with bones sticking out of the torn stump. Jason avoided it easily, but almost ran headfirst into another that had once been a woman. Its lower jaw ripped completely off and its right eye hanging from the sunken socket while it shuffled toward him.

The fighter snapped his foot up and kicked the corpse in the chest and sent it crashing to the ground, the back of its head cracking loudly against a stone and making it go still while giving him an opening to keep running. He reached the top of the hill and found himself facing a long fence with vines growing along the top.

With no other way of escape, the moans and shuffling feet of the undead behind him getting closer, Jason was low on options and decided to take his chances on what could have been waiting on the other side. Kicking another corpse that came up the hill after him and causing it to topple over three others that were behind it, he ran for the fence and leapt up, grabbing the top and throwing himself over on to the other side.

He landed with a grunt in the backyard of a two-story house and rolled away from the heavy wooden barrier just as the sounds of pounding hands could be heard on the side from multiple sources. Through the cracks between boards, Jason could make out the decaying faces that had been chasing him as they attempted to find a way through to get at him with more gathering by the second.

Just as the fence started creaking from all the abuse, several gunshots rang out in the distance catching the attention of all who could hear them. The corpses stopped their assault on the fence and looked off toward where the shots had come from before they began shuffling in that direction.

Jason watched from his position on the ground as the horde dissipated before getting back to his feet. _"Okay, lets assess the situation."_ he thought running his hand through his dirty blonde hair while his heart rate slowly started going back to a normal level and keeping his eyes locked on the fence. _"I somehow got knocked out and woke up somewhere close to Atlanta during a zombie outbreak. This is obviously _not_ a dream...so what the FUCK is going on?!" _

He racked his brain, thinking back to everything that had happened before he woke up in this place. Getting home after hanging out at his friend's place, seeing his Xbox on and reading about the malfunction...then there was a lot of pain and an explosion of light before everything went black.

_"Could that have been the reason? It doesn't seem likely. A game system fries when it's overloaded, it doesn't explode and catapult people into zombie-hell."_ Jason blew out a slow breath before looking at his surroundings. The backyard he had fallen into looked to be apart of a suburban area, a covered pool was on his immediate right, a tree with a well-built treehouse on his left, and there was a couple of soccer balls and a red wagon scattered along the grass.

Turning to face the house itself, he saw all the windows dark and nothing seemed to be moving for the most part. _"Alright Harlow, pull yourself together and worry about how you got here later. Gotta find shelter and a weapon, those walkers will come back eventually and you need to be ready if you get cornered."_ Shaking himself, he moved across the yard and stepped on to the back porch, approaching the glass sliding door and peering into the dark interior.

He could make out a couple of things; a small bar with stools separated the dining area from the kitchen, the living room was in clear view with the tv on showing nothing but static. All of the windows had the curtains drawn making it hard to see anything else that could have been inside.

"Hello?" he called out knocking on the thick glass. "Anyone home?" No response came after a couple of seconds. Taking a deep breath, Jason reached out and tried the handle and pulled it open with ease meaning it wasn't locked.

The fighter slowly stepped through the opening, body tense like a spring ready to snap in the off chance something jumped out at him. "I'm coming in, not here to cause trouble, just looking for help." he said into the seemingly empty house. Closing the door behind him, he got a better look around the homes interior seeing overturned furniture and various things thrown all over the place. The kitchen floor close to the bar had a large pool of blood with even more streaked along the wall.

_"Christ, I think these folks need more help than I do."_ he thought with a slight shiver at the fate these people probably suffered from. Going farther inside, he decided to check the kitchen first. Stepping past the bar where a child's coloring book and crayons were scattered on the surface which made a feeling of dread fill his stomach, he approached the pool of blood finding it mostly dried with an array of foot and handprints along the tiled floor.

"Jesus," the fighter muttered as he skirted around it and entered the kitchen. All of the cabinets and drawers were pulled open, some of their contents spilled across the floor. He managed to find a butcher knife sticking out of the cutlery block on the counter, checking to see how sharp it was and being satisfied he slipped it through his belt at the small of his back before going through the drawers that hadn't been pulled open.

The place was almost completely ransacked, any food or other useful items had already been taken long ago. Sighing in frustration, Jason pulled open the last drawer and found a walkie-talkie at the bottom. Taking it out, he gave it a once over before switching it on, a small thrill going through him when it came on. "Now we might be getting somewhere." he said to himself while slipping the device on to his left hip. With nothing else to go over he made his way toward the living room just in time for a loud beep to echo through the first level of the house.

Turning to his immediate right, he saw a bright-red blinking light on the answering machine along with a number three displayed on the small screen by the play button. "Maybe this will give me a clue about something." he pressed the play button and started listening;

**"Three new messages. Message one. Left at 5:43pm:"**

_**"Hey Sandra, this is Diana. We're still in Savannah. Ed had a little 'incident' with some crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and have it checked out. Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break!"**_

Jason clenched his right hand a bit as the second message started playing.

**"Message two. Left at 11:19pm:"**

_**"Oh my God, finally! I don't know if you've tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They're not letting us leave and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I've got to get back to the hospital. Please, let me know that you're safe."**_

The feeling in the pit of his stomach got a little heavier, hearing the desperation in the woman's voice shook him to the core and made him realize the severity of the situation. He waited as the last message began playing;

**"Message three. Left at 6:51am:"**

_**"Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. That's 9-1-1. We love you...we love you...we love y-"**_

It was cut off mid-way, but it was painstakingly clear. Jason picked up the small picture that was laying next to the machine, a smiling family with a dad, mom and a little girl looked back at him and pulled at his heart-strings. He set the picture back down and turned toward the sliding door he had come through before.

**"Daddy?"**

The fighter almost jumped as he shot his gaze down to the walkie-talkie down on his hip where a child's voice had come from, a little girl's voice. He pulled it off and held it in front of him a moment before pressing the button on the side. "Hello?" he asked slowly.

**"You need to be quiet."** came the reply. He started looking around the home in search of where the person on the other end was hiding.

"I'm not one of those things." he said back as he looked through the living room and finding nothing.

**"Good."** said the child as he moved to the dining room.

"What's your name?" he asked still not finding her anywhere.

**"Clementine. This is my house."** Jason let out a sigh of relief that the girl he had seen in the photo was okay.

"Hi, Clementine. I'm Jason." the fighter said keeping up the search. "How old are you?" he asked, keeping her talking to prove that he didn't mean her no harm.

**"Eight."**

"And you're all alone?"

**"Yes. I don't know where anybody is."** she said in distress. She took a deep breath before speaking again, **"How old are you?" **

He smiled before answering, "I turned 23 not too long ago."

**"Okay."**

"Where are your parents?" Jason asked, already knowing the answer as he walked back into the kitchen.

**"They took a trip and left me with Sandra. They're in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are."** said Clementine.

The fighter looked out the window above the sink at the backyard, "Clementine, are you safe where you are?" he asked while his eyes scanned every inch of the yard.

**"Yes. I'm outside in my treehouse. They can't get in."** Jason smiled, _"Smart kid." _He saw the door on the outside of the treehouse open and a small, tan-skinned girl wearing a dirty sundress and a baseball cap covering long, curly hair could be seen through the small space that was available.

**"See. Can you see me? I can see you through the window." **she said holding another walkie to her mouth.

Jason waved at her, "I can see you just fine, sweetheart. Stay put and I'll come out to meet you in person, okay?." He could just barely see the girl smile...but it quickly vanished as she backed away from the opening.

A moment later she screamed, **"Behind you!"**

He barely had a moment to spin around before what had been lurking behind him grabbed his shoulders. The rotten, decaying face of a female walker lunged for him, blackened teeth snapping as it tried to latch on to his throat.

"Shit!" Jason grabbed the creature by the neck, pushing back to keep it from taking a chunk out of him as it tried to pull him to its waiting mouth. The rancid smell of rot washing over him and making his eyes water while he fought back against it.

For a walking corpse in the process of decomposing, it had a surprising amount of strength as he fought against it. Managing to keep the walker at arm's length, he brought his right hand back and punched it hard in the jaw with a resounding crack.

The walker's lower jaw hung unhinged, head snapping to the side from the blow and losing its grip just enough for him to bring his elbow down hard on the monsters forearm, shattering the bones in it and allowing him to shove it away from him.

Shaking off the feeling of disgust, the fighter reached back and drew the large knife he picked up earlier and held it before him while standing in at ready position. "Alright you undead bitch, come and get it." he growled as the walker got back up.

A animalistic growl came from its throat, arm hanging limply at its side, before it lunged at him. Jason dodged right, bringing his knee up had into the walkers chest and staggering it before bringing his clenched fist down hard on the back of its head sending it sprawling to the floor.

Kicking the creature over, he pressed his foot down on its chest keeping it pinned to the floor while he held the knife in both hands and raising it into the air. The walker clawed at his pant leg with its good arm, trying to get at his flesh just as he brought it down hard with all his strength. The blade piercing the walkers right eye socket and going straight through its skull into its brain making it go still.

Releasing the knife and shaking the blood from his hands, Jason stood back at his full height looking down at the corpse. The realization that he had killed three of these things within the last twenty or so minutes weighed on him a bit, but at this point he couldn't afford to hesitate. One bite from one of these things and it would be game over in a matter of hours.

He still couldn't understand how any of this was possible, and until he figured it all out he'd have to rely on his knowledge on how to deal with the living dead and his training in the MMA to keep from becoming a statistic in this world.

A soft gasp pulled him back into the here and now. Turning his head, he saw the little girl he had been talking to standing at the opening to the kitchen, a hammer clutched tightly in her hands as she looked down at the dead walker at his feet.

Her hazel colored eyes looked up and locked with his blue ones. "D-Did you kill it?" she asked, stepping out of the way as the pool of blood began tp spread in her direction.

"Pretty sure something got to her before I did. But yeah, I got it." he replied before approaching her, kneeling down to her height and taking the hammer from her gently while giving her a smile. "Are you Clementine?"

She nodded, "And...you're Jason, right?"

"That's right." he said nodding in return. "Have you really been all on your own through all of this?" he asked more than a little worried for her state of mind.

Clementine nodded, "Yeah. I want my parents to come home now." she said holding her hands together and looking to the floor. Missing the wince on Jason's face as he remembered the messages on the answering machine.

"That...could be a while, sweetheart." he said solumnly.

Her expression seemed to become more depressing from his words. "...oh." The fighter's heart went out to her, the possibility that her parents were dead was very high at this point if it was like this all over the place. And she had been alone thus far, who knew how much longer she would have lasted if he hadn't come along.

A thought crossed his mind at that point, it was crazy given his own situation, but he couldn't leave her to fend for herself. Someone her age and size wouldn't last very long against walkers, and deep in his heart he couldn't leave a little girl alone like this.

"Look, I don't really know what's happening or how it all started. But how about I look after you for a while, at least until we find your folks." he asked making the girl perk up a little.

"Really?" she asked a little hopeful.

"Of course, Jason said smiling, "I can't just leave you alone, it's not safe with these things wandering all over the place."

Clementine looked down at the dead walker again before going back to him, "What should we do?"

The fighter looked out the open sliding-door she had come through and saw the sun start to set, "We need to find help and a safe place to be before it gets dark. These things will be more dangerous at night." he picked up the walkie he had dropped in the struggle with the walker before, slipping the hammer into his belt and stepping out into the dining area, Clementine on at his side as they prepared to head out back into the yard.

"Hold on," he said before turning and heading toward the living room. The young girl watched him pick up the framed picture of her family and tamper with it a moment before pulling the image from the frame itself and coming back over. Holding the picture out for her to take. "Something you should hold on to until we find them." he said smiling down at her.

The girl smiled back as she accepted the photo, folding it in half and slipping it into a pocket of her dress before reaching out and taking his hand in hers. They stepped out on to the back porch, closing the door behind them before making their way to a gate that led to the driveway.

Approaching the gate, Jason saw the road beyond cluttered with abandoned cars. And among them were two men attempting to push a green sedan with its front end smashed in out of the way. "Maaaan...I ain't never gettin' home to mama at this rate." one of them groaned as they took a break.

"This sucks." said the other scratching back of his head.

Jason reached to open the gate when Clementine backed off a little. "Hay, what's the matter?" he asked crouching down to look her in the eye.

"Should I stay?" she asked timidly. "I don't want to sleep in my treehouse tonight, but I don't know if I should leave. What if my parents come home?"

The fighter reached out and tipped her hat up and making her look him in the eye, "I won't leave you alone." he promised. Clementine's face lit up and she nodded, "Let's go somewhere safe that's close, okay?"

Turning back to the gate, they pushed it open and approached the two men as they went back to trying to push the car. "Stay close to me, no matter what happens okay?" Jason whispered down at his charge while at the same time keeping her behind him a bit. "Hay, you two!" he called out making them jump.

"Holy shit!" the heavier looking one shouted, holding his hands up in defense. "Don't eat us!"

"Relax," Jason said holding his own hands up, "We're not trying to hurt anybody. Just looking for a bit of help."

Both of the men visibly relaxed, "Phew, thought for a second there you and the little one were both gonna give us the chomp." said the dark haired one. "Name's Shawn by the way, Shawn Greene. And this is Chet" he introduced.

Chet smiled and waved at Clementine who smiled back shyly and hid behind Jason's leg.

"Jason Harlow, and this is Clementine." the fighter replied. "Either of you know what the hell's going on around here?" he asked looking up the street and seeing it cluttered with cars, discarded luggage and a couple of downed walkers.

"No idea, you've seen them right? They just came out of nowhere not to long ago, before anyone knew what was happening folks started eating each other." Shawn said looking around, "We shouldn't be out in the open like this. How about you help us clear the way and we'll take you and your daughter out of here and down to my family's farm. It should be safe there."

Jason was a little thrown off by the accusation, "I'm not her dad. I'm...a friend of the family. Came down from Chicago to visit and found everything like this." he said after a second or two.

Clementine sent him a look out of the corner of her eye while Shawn nodded, "Bad time for a vaction, but I guess it can't be helped concidering all of this." He shot a glance farther up the street, "We better get going, staying put for too long is a mistake."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jason said looking down at his charge, "What do you wanna do?". She looked back unsure, casting a glance toward the front of her family's home before Chet started shouting.

"Them monsters comin'! WE GOTTA GO!" A small group of walkers started stumbling in their direction around the derelict cars. Shawn and Jason shared a glance before throwing their weight into the car they had been trying to move before. The sedan creaked as it started rolling back inch by inch. The fighter bent his knees and pushed with every ounce of strength that he possessed while the undead began to close the distance between them.

Clementine ran up and started pushing as well, the combined effort moving the dead car out of the way and allowing safe passage for the old red truck that had been stopped next to it. "Com'mon! We gotta go!" Shawn shouted as he yanked open the driver's side door.

Chet threw himself into the empty bed while Jason got Clementine into the passenger's seat. She screamed as one of the walkers, this one wearing a torn and bloody police uniform reached out to grab the fighter from behind. But he had been quicker, grabbing the creature by the back of the head and smashing it off the side of the truck hard enough to cave its forehead in and dropping it to the ground.

Noticing the dead man's gunbelt and his sidearm still holstered in it, he quickly bent down and pulled the Glock 9mm out before jumping into the truck. Slamming the door as Shawn hit the gas, the trucks tires squealed on the pavement, bashing the side of the car they had moved as they sped off and safely got away from the horde.

Laying his head back against the seat behind him, Jason took a few deep breaths. Body sagging as he felt the adrenaline starting to wear off. Clementine was on her knees in the seat between him and Shawn looking out the back window back the way they had come, seeing her house disappear as they drove farther and farther away.

"You know, for a guy visiting from Chicago, you sure saved a lot of lives today." Shawn said turning off the suburban street and going down the main road toward the country.

Jason looked down at the pistol in his hand, popping the clip out and was grateful at finding it full. "Just wish I could have done more." he said back before snapping the magazine back in place and flipping the safety on, leaning his head back against the seat and closed his eyes

The whole situation was FUBAR right out of the gate, without knowing how he got into all of this or even if there was a way for him to get back he was pretty much fucked no matter how he looked at it. And it wasn't like many people would miss him. Being estranged from his family, a very small number of friends and naturally being a loner made it pretty clear on that fact.

_"Way I see it, I have two options at this point."_ he thought to himself. _"I can either make due of the situation, survive to the best of my ability and figure out how all this happened. Or, I can just sit around and get eaten and rot like everything else around here."_

He felt Clementine sit down next to him, her head leaning against his shoulder as she got comfortable in the seat. It was then he realized that it wasn't just about him anymore, he made a promise to her and he'd be damned if he didn't do everything he could to keep her safe from the walkers and anything else that would want to hurt her.

_"I can't let her down, it's not just about _my _survival anymore." _Mind made up, Jason looked out the window at the passing landscape. The sun dropping lower and lower in the sky, nightfall just about upon them. But at the moment they were safe.

But in a world like this...how long would that last?"

**A/N: And there is the beginning. Love it? Hate it? Tell me what you think. And I'm telling you now, the reason that it's in the crossover section with the tv series is that I'm planning on merging the two together later on in the future. But that will come about another time.**

**I have also heard about SOPA 2014 attempting to shut us down again. Fucking bullshit that tries to destroy our 1st Amendment Rights. Me and my pal Wraith002 have already thrown our hat into the ring and signed the petitions needed to help put an end to this, so if you haven't yet, get to it. It's our right, so FIGHT FOR IT!**

**This is DFX, signing off for now.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Honestly guys, I can't tell you how great it is to be writing again. When I first started doing this it was just some hobby I did in my spare time. Now it has become something that I can really get behind and let creativity flow, hell, even my girlfriend has some fanfiction she's planning on putting on the site with a profile of her own. I'm actually encouraging that.**

**On to this story in particular, I'm beyond impressed at the number of reviews, follows and favorites that it has gathered after only a couple of days. And I know that the whole 'Xbox opening a dimensional gateway' thing is overdone, but it just seemed to be the best way to go for my OC to jump like that, so give it a chance despite the tactic is as common as it is.**

**For the plot, like I said last time I _am _going to be fusing the tv series into the game series at some point. And there will elements of both within one another at certain points. You'll be seeing what I mean soon enough in that regard. For now, here's the next installment.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Walking Dead (In any form)**

**Chapter 1: The Reality of Things**

Night had fallen over the country side, the bright light of the full moon shining down upon the landscape casting long shadows along the ground.

A pair of headlights drove steadily down a long, bumpy dirt road. Going past various corn fields, fenced in animal enclosures and various trees. Inside the truck, the occupants were all in a strange combination of relaxation and alertness as they rumbled farther into the country. The incidents that had occurred to them over a couple of hours ago still very fresh in their thoughts as they focused on the road ahead.

Jason had his head resting in on his knuckles, elbow on the passenger door as he watched the countryside fly past them. Clementine was on his left with Shawn driving on her other side, Shawn's friend Chet was leaning his back against the cab from his spot in the trucks bed.

It was late, roughly around 11 or maybe closer to midnight, the fighter could feel sleep crawling at the edges of his consciousness but refused to let it take hold. There would be time for sleep when he and Clementine were somewhere safe, and if what Shawn had been telling them is true, a farm out in the middle of nowhere seemed like the best place to be when the more populated areas are overrun by walkers.

Though he couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia coming to him the farther along they went. Something about Shawn's last name triggered something that he was having a bit of trouble trying to recall. _"Greene...Greene...Where have I heard that name before?"_ The fighter thought to himself.

"Jason?" he turned and looked down at his charge who was rubbing her eyes before looking up at him. "I'm getting sleepy. Are we there yet?" she asked before yawning.

"Almost, little darlin'." Shawn said as he turned the truck down another dirt road. "The farm isn't too much farther, we can find you two a place to crash when we arrive."

"Thanks for doing this for us, we really owe you." Jason said gratefully. "You sure your family won't mind having us?"

The farmer waved him off, "It won't be a problem, my dad might be a bit hesitant with strangers but I'm sure he won't mind letting you stay for at least one night." he made another turn and a small house in the distance could be seen approaching. "Besides, I couldn't just leave you two there like that. Not with those things wandering around takin' chunks outta people."

Pulling into a dooryard, Shawn parked the truck next to a blue one that was already sitting there before shutting the engine off. The group piled out and approached the front porch. "Hey, Shawn..." Chet said stretching his arms, "I'm a' run on home. My mama's gonna be in a snit."

"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night." replied Shawn.

Chet nodded before turning to Jason and Clementine, "It was nice to meet ya both."

"Likewise, take care of yourself out there." the fighter replied as the man headed down the driveway and disappeared from sight. The front door of the house opened drawing their attention as two female figures came out to see them.

Jason's eyes widen and felt his breath hitch, _that_ was why Shawn's last name sounded familiar and why he felt that he'd known this place somehow.

The unmistakable forms of Maggie and Beth Greene came running down from the porch, their arms going around the older man in a tight embrace. Both girls looking exactly like the characters that played them on the Walking Dead right down to the last detail. "Thank God, you're okay!" Maggie said with relief filling her voice as she held the man.

"I'm fine, sis." Shawn said hugging his sisters back. "I was worried it'd be bad here, too."

"Everything's okay here, daddy was worried about you." said Beth before turning to the ones Shawn had brought with him. "Who are these two?" she asked looking from the young man to the little girl that hung closely to his side.

"This is Jason and Clementine, they helped me and Chet get back here when we got held up in town." said Shawn turning to their guests. "These are my sisters, Maggie and Beth."

Snapping himself out of the slight stupor he had fallen in, the fighter nodded to them. "Your brother's a hero, we would have been in a lot of trouble if he and his friend hadn't helped us out when we needed it."

"Well, it's a good thing they were able to help somebody." they all looked to the front door and Jason felt his mouth drop again. Even missing his long beard and prosthetic leg, the kind and serene visage of Hershel Greene was still very surprising to see.

The older man smiled kindly at them as he came down the steps. "So, it's just you and your daughter then." he said looking down at Clementine who smiled back shyly.

"Oh, she's not his daughter." said Shawn before Jason could answer. "He's a friend visiting from Chicago and found her alone at home."

Hershel cast a small glance at his son before turning to the younger man with a calculating look. Jason felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up under the man's gaze, but kept his face as calm and collective as he could before the man turned to Clementine and kneeled down to her level.

"Honey, do you know this man?" he asked gently.

The girl hesitated a moment before nodding her head, "Yes."

Hershel narrowed his eyes and nodded back, "Okay then. You two look like you've had a pretty bad day. Beth, would you mind fetching them something to drink. Shawn, Maggie, why don't you go in and check on your mother." His children all headed into the house, the girls sending smiles toward the girl and her guardian before they disappeared inside.

The farmer motioned for his guests to have a seat on a couple of hay-bails in front of the porch, they all sat down as the man started speaking again. "Seems like things got awful bad in the cities." he turned to Jason, "What did you say your name was again?"

"Jason Harlow." the fighter replied.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hershel Greene." said the farmer. "Shawn said something about you coming down from Chicago. That's a long way from home for you, what made you come down here to Georgia?"

It didn't take much to figure out that the man was digging, searching for lies that could paint him in a bad light. _"Just keep it honest. But don't mention anything about somehow jumping dimensions."_ "I was on vacation, thought I'd come down and visit some friends. Didn't expect things to fall apart like this when I arrived though." he said dodging around the truth easily.

"Where were you headed?" Hershel asked turning to him.

"Atlanta. When I saw the main roads blocked off I took a detour and ran into some trouble, I came across Clementine's home running from those things you've probably heard about. After that we ran into your son and his friend before making an escape." said the fighter. The older man nodded, seeming to buy the story for the most part. But there was still a sliver of mistrust in his eyes that kept Jason on edge.

Beth came out of the house with two bottles of water, handing them to their guests and given them a smile before heading back inside. "The house is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family of three already sleeping in the barn. You and the girl are welcome to rest there for the night." Hershel turned to Clementine. "I didn't catch your name either, darlin'."

"Clem-Clementine." she answered back.

The farmer shook his head sadly, "Can't imagine what you've been through, Clementine."

"I'm looking after her until we find her parents." Jason said honestly just as Shawn came out of the house and approached his father.

"Hey, dad, I've been thinking. First thing tomorrow, we gotta reinforce the fence around the farm."

Hershel shook his head, "That doesn't seem necessary." he said casually.

Shawn gritted his teeth, "I don't know what you saw on tv, or heard on the radio, but there's some serious..." he lowered his voice looking over at Clementine as she slowly drank the water in her hands. "...shit hitting the fan. I don't think anyone knows how big it is yet."

"He's right, sir." Jason said after taking a big gulp of his own water. "Things are a lot worse out there then you may realize, dead people are wandering around eating the living. Making sure this place is safe for you and your family should take priority."

The farmer didn't look to be moved as he regarded the two younger men, "Stuff like that doesn't happen around here. But do what you think you should. We've got plenty of other chores around here as it is."

"Jason and those folks in the barn can help out in the morning. We gotta do it, really." the man's son pressed.

"I already said yes, Shawn. You don't need to try and convince me any more." Hershel said as Shawn turned and went back in the house. He turned back to Jason and motioned to the building a little ways from the home, "There's blankets and such in the barn. We'll be seeing you bright and early. Come tomorrow, which way you think you're headed?"

Jason hadn't thought about their next step, surviving the walkers had taken up most of his thoughts so much he didn't stop to think about where he and Clementine should go next. Then he remembered the conversation he had with the girl back at her house. "Savannah, Clementine's folks were down in that area when things started falling apart. I promised to help her look for them."

"Then your best bet would be to pass through Macon." replied the farmer. "The coast is still a long drive from here, maybe those other folks we took in can offer you a lift in that direction tomorrow." he gave the two another smile, patting the younger man on the shoulder before going into the house leaving the two to their own devices.

Watching the man disappear inside, the fighter turned to his charge who looked back unsure. "Well...I think the sandman is calling our name, Clem." he said with a light smile and getting a giggle out of her. They got up and walked across the large front yard toward the barn.

The Greene family farm looked almost exactly like it did in the show, only it seemed to be a little smaller than he remembered. More often then not, Jason couldn't help but think of the large herd of walkers surrounding the place from the treeline while people fought to escape.

Reaching the barn after a light walk, the odd duo pushed the large doors open before going inside, sealing the entrance behind them before gathering a couple of blankets and pillows that were stacked up in the corner.

Finding a small corner amongst a pile of hay-bails, the duo set up their makeshift beds on the floor before settling down for the night. The sounds of someone rolling around in the upper loft telling them both that the other family that had taken up residence in the building for the night was up there already asleep.

Jason laid on his blanket, pulling out the walkie-talkie, the hammer and the handgun he got off of the dead cop when they fled Clementine's house under his pillow for easy access before folding his arms under his head and staring up at the ceiling above. His mind already starting to go over how they would be able to reach Savannah, or any kind of safe haven where nothing would happen to him or the girl that was now in his care.

_"We're gonna need food, medical supplies, and weapons. A hammer and a gun with a single clip won't last us long. We're also going to need a vehicle and some gas to get us there, not to mention a way to keep the walkers from taking a bite out of us.."_ he rubbed his temples when he started feeling a headache coming on. _"I'll worry about this in the morning, should get as much sleep as I can. Gonna need it tomorrow."_

Clementine smelled around her as she tried to get comfortable, "It smells like..." she trailed off not knowing how to word it.

"Manure." Jason said rolling over to face her with a smirk.

"You mean, when an animal...plops?" she asked hesitantly and getting a nod from her guardian making her shiver slightly. They fell into silence for a few minutes before Clementine reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded picture of her family, laying it next to her pillow as she curled up by it. "I miss my mom and dad." she whimpered softly.

Jason winced, the messages he heard on the answering machine coming back to mind. "I know, sweetheart." he said feeling his heart clench at her anguish.

"How far is Savannah?" she asked as her eyes began to grow heavy.

Jason yawned, "Pretty far, Clem. But we'll get there, don't worry."

Clementine's eyes closed completely as she settled in, "Oh...okay..." A moment later her breathing evened out meaning she had fallen asleep. The fighter watched over her for a few more moments before rolling on to his back again, exhaustion starting to settle in with him as well as he closed his own eyes.

His last waking thought being of what their overall plan should be before the hands of sleep claimed him for the night.

X

_"So that's how it is then?"_

_"Jason we only want what's best for you and your career." _

_"Bullshit! All you two care about it controlling our future! I remember Katie wanted to be a writer, but you two stomped down on that dream the moment she uttered a word of it!" _

_"You need to take your life seriously, son. If you don't you won't get anywhere in life." _

_"I am getting somewhere!"_

_"This stupid dream of becoming a fighter is just that, a dream! If you don't buckle down and choose a worthwhile profession then you won't be getting any more support from us!" _

_"...So you're cutting me off? Just because my life's not the way you want it for me? Being in the MMA may seem like a dream, but it something I'm working hard for! And being a mechanic _is _a good profession, do you have any idea how people with auto skills get paid for their work? Even freelance mechanics earn more than others."_

_"Jason-"_

_"No mom! This isn't about me, my future or any of that, is it? This is about _your image_ and how _I_ am making it look bad! How embarrassing it must be for the two of you to have a _grease-monkey with bloody knuckles_ in the family instead of another doctor."_

_"Son, our word is final on the matter."_

_"Fuck your word! Fuck your support! And fuck YOU! If that's the way it's gonna be with you two, then I'll start packing my shit. I'm done being shoved in a box I can't fit into. I'm done with the snide comments, the glares I get when I visit home and the way you let people talk about me when you think I'm not listening!"_

_"Parents are suppose to support their kids and love them no matter what they do with their lives, not give them ultimatums and threaten them just because they don't fit into the family's _grand plan_. I can stand on my own two goddamn feet...I've been doing it for a long while now so what the hell does it matter?"_

_"If that's the way you want it, then consider yourself on your own Jason. You are no longer any son of mine!"_

X

Jason bolted awake, looking around him and seeing the four walls of the barn and the piles of hay stacked around him.

He'd been reliving that moment from years ago for a while now, the moment when his dad all but disowned him and his mother just walked away with her head hanging low. Neither of them looking back as they walked out of his life without another word.

It had been a stupid situation anyway. Just because he pursued a profession and a way of life that they didn't agree with didn't give them the right to threaten to no longer support him and kick him out of the family. He'd tried to be the adult in the situation, trying to see if from their point of view and make compromises.

But nothing worked with them. They just hated the fact that he didn't have a job that fit well with their view of things as long as they looked better in the community. So he stuck through it, they didn't want him? Fine. He had been doing good on his own for years without anything from them and was doing well.

His eyes searched the barn again realizing that everything he had been through the day before had been real before letting out a sigh knowing that nothing was going to change that. A light shuffling came from his left and he saw Clementine curled up on her makeshift bed, her hat half-hanging off her head and her expression peaceful while she slept.

Smiling at the image, he reached out and removed her hat, setting it to the side within her reach before standing up and stretching his muscles. Skin a bit itchy from laying in hay, the fighter walked slowly over to the doors to the barn being as silent as possible so he didn't wake anyone else as he stepped out into the crisp, early morning air.

It was still relatively dark out, but the dark hues of pink, blue and purple on the edges of the horizon marked the start of the new day. Taking another deep breath, Jason started walking around the yard along the fence that separated the space around the home from the surrounding fields.

He could hear the sounds of animals waking up all around the property, a horses in the nearby stable grunted and stomped their hooves as the fighter walked past them. Stopping by one of the many fence posts and leaning on it while he looked out over the landscape.

After living in a city for so long, he almost forgot how quiet and serene the country side was. _"Everything's so peaceful out here."_ he thought while hearing various other animals waking up for the day. _"Hard to believe the world's coming to an end outside the boarders. Hopefully not everything turns out like in the series."_

Footfalls in the grass behind him broke his thoughts and made his body tense, preparing for an attack until he heard a feminine voice speak out, "You're up pretty early." Looking over his shoulder he saw Maggie Greene standing behind him dressed in a casual white tank-top and jeans with light tears in them that hugged her body close. A pair of brown cowboy boots completed her attire and painted the perfect image of a 'farmer's daughter' in his eyes.

"Y-Yeah. Rough dreams." he admitted albeit a little tongue-tied given the beautiful southern-belle standing before him.

Maggie slipped her hands into her pockets and walked up to stand next to him. "Shawn told us what was going on out there, it sounds horrible."

Jason nodded seriously before glancing out over the farm. "It is. The last thing you expect to see is people eating each other, it's nightmare stuff, and I don't think things will be getting any better with happening." he said while running a hand through his short-cut hair. "It's a good thing it hasn't reached this far, your family is lucky."

"Maybe," she said looking out over everything as well. "Daddy says that we have nothing to worry about, that what's happening out there won't reach us. But Shawn thinks that it's best to prepare for the worst."

"It's a good idea," said the fighter. "It's always better to prepare for the worst, than hope for the best. Even if nothing happens here, at least you'll be ready incase something goes wrong."

The young woman nodded before casting a smile in his direction, "Clementine looks like such a sweet little girl, it's terrible how she's all alone now. It's a good thing you found her when you did, anything could have happened to her."

"I made a promise after I found her, I honor my word. And no matter what it takes, I'll make sure nothing happens to her." came the reply, conviction filling the traveler's voice at the commitment he made to his young charge. A hand on his shoulder made him look up to see Maggie's bright green eyes and smiling face.

"She's lucky to have you looking out for her. I can tell that you're a good man and will honor what you say." her voice was soft and made his heart skip a beat or two. She looked even prettier in person and Jason couldn't help but feel like he was back in high school talking to one of the popular girls.

"T-Thanks," he managed before clearing the dry lump in his throat and getting the woman to giggle. "What are you doing up at this hour?" he asked, a little curious as to what she was doing out here.

"Beth, mama and I are gonna head to our neighbors' for the day. I just came to check on the horses before we head out in a few hours." she approached the stables and ran her hand along the elongated face of a dark-brown steed that bowed its head so she could scratch it behind the ears.

Jason stepped toward the stable as well, reaching a hand out and running it along the animal's neck, hearing a deep grunt that sounded like it was enjoying the attention. "He looks like an amazing animal." he commented before jumping as the white furred horse in the stable next to it leaned out and nipped at the back of his shirt, causing Maggie to laugh at his expense.

"Definitely a city-boy." she teased getting a mock-glare in return that only made her laugh more. "So what do you do for a living?"

"I do work as an auto-mechanic, but in my spare time I train as a fighter. The sport's always interested me since I was a kid and I was just barely getting scoped out by sponsors when...well, all of this happened." he covered easily.

Maggie looked his way, "Sounds dangerous. Throwing yourself into a situation where you have to fight each other. But I guess farming is dangerous on its own."

Jason nodded, "You're right. But in life you have to take risks if you're passionate about something."

"You're right." the young woman replied before smiling at him. "Your family must be proud of you." The fighter remained silent, wanting to tell her the truth but deciding to keep it to himself.

They exchanged a few more words with one another, talking about seemingly random things and finding that they had a little bit in common and enjoying themselves rather well before going their separate ways, Maggie back to the house and Jason back to the barn. The sun was beginning to rise a little higher in the sky but still relatively early and the fighter wanted to catch a little more sleep before the day really got started.

Still feeling a little light in his steps from his talk with the farmer girl, the fighter walked into the barn and found Clementine still asleep where he had left her. Laying himself back down on his makeshift bed and settling in, Jason's eyes slid closed and took a couple deep breaths before drifting back into slumber.

"Hey, get up!" His eyes shot open about an hour or so later and found a man dressed in a white, fishing shirt and jeans looking down at him. The man also had a mustache that curved around his mouth and long hair kept under a truckers hat.

Jason's first reaction was to reach for the handgun under his pillow, but the kind smile on the man's face told him that he wasn't a threat and defused the situation before something could happen.

He looked to the side and found Clementine already awake, scratching at her arms with a look of discomfort. "I'm itchy." she complained.

"Well you slept in a barn, little lady." said the man. "Lucky you don't have spiders in your hair."

The girl yelped and reached her hands up into her dark curls in fear of finding eight-legged bugs waiting for her. "Relax, Clem. I think he was just pulling your leg." Jason said getting to his feet with a light chuckle.

"He's right, darlin'. Besides, I bet your daddy here scared 'em all away, huh?"

The fighter scratched the back of his head, "Uh, I'm not her dad. Name's Jason." he said holding his hand out. The unknown man clasped his hand with his and shook, "Name's Kenny." he introduced back.

"Dad!" the three looked toward the open barn doors and saw a boy a year or two older then Clementine standing in the opening. "We're gonna build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!" he exclaimed with excitement before running off toward the house.

Kenny chuckled, "Well, we better get going or we won't hear the end of it." they all headed out of the barn, Jason used the moment to quickly snatch up his hidden items, stashing them on himself before catching up to the other two and began making their way to the farm house as well.

"That's my boy, Ken Junior. We call him Duck, though." said Kenny while they walked.

"Duck?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow at the odd nickname, Clementine giggled as she walked at his side, her hand holding on to his.

"Yeah. Nothing bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know?" explained the older man.

"Good trait to have, especially now with what's going on out there." said the fighter.

Kenny nodded, "No kidding. But frankly, I think it's because he's dumb as a bag of hammers." "DAAAAAD!" Duck yelled from up ahead. "But he makes up for it with enthusiasm." the man finished with another chuckle.

They neared the front porch of the Greene home and found Kenny's son talking with an older, blonde woman. Both looking up as they closed in. "The word is you were on your way to Macon." Kenny said turning to the odd duo.

"Yeah, hoping to find a way to Savannah. If you don't mind giving us a lift." said the fighter.

"Not at all. Personally, I'd appreciate the company of a guy who can knock a couple of heads together if he has to." replied the older man.

Jason grinned, "Oh, no worries on that front. Been training in Mixed Martial Arts for several years now, even won a couple of matches and started getting somewhere before everything fell apart."

"Cool!" Duck exclaimed with wide eyes, "Does that mean you know Kung Fu and stuff?!"

"Sort off," the younger man said while smiling wider at the kid's enthusiasm. "MMA is kind of a mix of all sorts of fighting styles. Karate, Kickboxing, Mai Tai, Judo, that kind of thing." he explained while taking a boxing-stance. "The key is to find your strengths when you're up against someone and improving on them, all the while increasing your endurance, strength and dexterity. Me personally, I do a combination of Judo and Boxing. Leveling off strength and speed when fighting an opponent."

The boy was bouncing from foot to foot before turning to the woman, "Mom! Can I learn to fight too?"

"Easy, sweetie. I think you're still a bit young to be worrying about that right now." said his mother with a slight accent tinting her voice while running a hand over his nearly buzzcut hair.

Kenny shook his head a moment before making introductions, "Honey, Duck, this is Jason and...uh, what's the girl's name?" he asked.

"Clementine." Jason said looking down at his charge who tried her best to hide herself behind him.

"Clementine, that's a very pretty name." said the woman smiling warmly. "My name it Katjaa , it's nice to meet you." The little girl smiled and said thank you just as Shawn came around the house and approached them.

"Well, we should get to work. We've all seen what those things can do out there so the faster we get this new fence up, the better." he said to the group.

"I wanna build a fence!" Duck shouted, wanting to be a part of it.

Shawn grinned, "Yeah? Well I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break." The little boy seemed to vibrate with excitement before chasing after the farmer as he went off to improve the border around the property.

Katjaa turned to Jason and smiled, "I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit." The fighter looked down at Clementine and nodded, getting her to smile and head over to the older woman and sit with her while he and Kenny went over to the blue truck with the hood up.

"Need any help with that, Kenny?" he asked as the older man began to look over the engine.

"Naw, I think I got it." he replied while picking up a wrench and attempting to remove one of the spark plugs, only to find that it was the wrong sized socket. Jason leaned forward and took the wrench from the older man, quickly changing to the right socket and removing the damaged component with relative ease and switching it with a new one Kenny had nearby.

"That's pretty good. You a mechanic?" the older man asked a bit impressed.

"Worked in an auto body shop back in Chicago, it helped pay the bills outside of matches and training." Jason replied before changing out another spark plug and replacing it. "Spark plugs are an easy fix, but I think your timing belt is a little loose. This truck won't go far until it's all taken care of."

Kenny looked up at him with a questionable look after another minute. "Do _you_ need any help with anything?"

The fighter paused and raised an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, in taking care of that little girl. You know what you're doing? You got kids of your own?" Kenny clarified.

Jason shook his head and went back to the engine, "I'm only 23, my longest relationship was only a few months. So no, I don't have any kids. Always thought about having one in the future though, thought I could make a great dad some day." he thought about the other man's family and looked up at him. "You've got a good family."

"Thanks, been doin' the best I can at keeping them safe through all of this. Our plan was to head back on down to Lauderdale and let this mess get sorted out." Kenny explained. "Government will start handing out shots and the national guard will do its thing. On the odd chance things got too bad, we could hop on my boat, I guess."

_"Not a big chance of any of that happening..."_ Jason thought bitterly. "You've got a boat?" he asked curious.

"I'm a commercial fisherman, catching mackerel, dolphin, whatever's biting and paying. Katjaa wouldn't be wild about it, but the boat's not that bad." said Kenny with a little pride in his voice.

Filing that little piece of information away for later, the fighter continued helping the fisherman repair the truck. Talking back and forth about what was going on and how it may have started. Kenny talked about their first encounter with the walkers, how they came down from his sister-in-laws place and Duck getting grabbed at a gas station. But they had managed to escape, seeing a lot of dead along the way until they came to the farm.

Jason realized then that things were just as dire as he first believed, that the chances of finding a safe haven in all of this was going to be very difficult if he and Clementine didn't have a good plan to follow.

When the truck was fully repaired and running again, the fighter looked over at his little charge who was still on the porch where she was happily talking with Kenny's wife. _"They seem to be getting along alright."_ he thought while feeling glad that she was opening up to people.

"Hay girls," he said approaching the two. "Enjoying yourselves?"

"You can say that. Clementine was just telling me about first grade." replied Katjaa warmly.

"Really, and how is that?" asked Jason while turning to his charge.

Clementine smiled, "It's easy."

"I'll bet," he said ruffling her hair through her hat.

"Anyway, it's almost like we didn't see people eating each other for the past three days. It's peaceful here, no?" said Katjaa getting a nod from the fighter.

"Kenny told me about how rough it was out there for you three. How did you handle getting through the city?"

The woman sighed, "Kenny just...drove. We passed do many people that needed help. And...we just...passed people, over some. Just...just..." she closed her eyes not wanting to think about it anymore.

"It's okay, ma'am. You don't have to say anymore." Jason said trying to ease her troubled mind.

Katjaa shuttered, "I want to go home tomorrow, but even then I can't take away the things we, the things Duck, went through." She looked up into his eyes, "Don't you want to go back to the moment before you knew about all of this?"

The question had stunned him for a moment, recalling how he had gotten into all of this and that there seemed to be nothing he could do to get back to where he was before. "Anyone with half a brain would. But in a situation like this, you just gotta take the hand you're dealt and make the best of it with what you have."

Katjaa smiled, "That sounded a bit philosophical."

Jason shrugged, "I'm no Plato, but I have my moments every once in a while." He drummed his fingers lightly on the bill of Clementine's hat and making her smile at him. "I'll leave you two be for now, better check on Shawn and those new defenses."

"Okay." the girl said before going back and talking with the blonde woman. He moved on from the porch and went around the house to the back where Shawn was busily hammering several heavy boards to the fence, making it stronger and more durable than before.

"Need an extra set of hands?" he asked the farmer after waving at Duck who was happily sitting on the tractor and playing with the steering wheel.

"Sure can," the farmer replied while motioning to a couple of saw-horses and some long wooden boards. "If you could cut those two-bys to length, that'd sure speed things up." Jason walked over and set a couple of boards up, picking up a nearby hand-saw and started cutting them in half.

"My dad doesn't know how bad it really is out there." Shawn said after a minute of silence.

"Noticed that." said the fighter picking up a couple new boards after cutting the first two. "Most people hate to admit that something's wrong when its so hard to believe." Speaking from his own experience, he could definitely relate.

Shawn sighed and shook his head, "I saw a guy in Atlanta kill a kid. A boy. Just shot him right in the face. He didn't even hesitate. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun between his eyes and pulled the trigger...You don't see things like that, it's not like in the movies."

Jason nodded, "At least then you know it's fake. But now, the horror of reality just doesn't set in right after seeing what we have." the next two boards fell away and he picked up a couple more.

"Have you...done it yet?" asked the farmer turning to him, "Have you had to off one?"

The fighter paused, eyes locked on the half-cut boards as he recalled his encounters with the walkers the other day. "Yeah. Four of them. Two in the woods, one inside Clementine's house...and one outside your truck before we managed to get away."

"Damn," muttered Shawn. "That takes some guts. I could probably shoot one, if it was far away." he looked to the fence he was reinforcing. "I'm just glad we're getting this fence built-in. Dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat than whatever's out there."

"How bout yours? Where's your family?"

The next to boards fell away and Jason sighed, "Wouldn't know, haven't heard from them in a couple of years. We had a pretty bad falling out and I've been on my own since."

"Sorry to hear that. Didn't mean to pry like that." the farmer turned to him again. "That's probably all I need cut for now, thanks for the help."

"Don't mention it man, it's the least I can do for helping get me and Clem out of town last night." he replied setting the saw down.

Shawn smiled, "No problem, Jason. Couldn't leave you two behind. Anyway, when you see my dad around, he might want some help in the barn." Jason looked over at said barn and found Hershel heading inside with a pitchfork. Rolling his shoulders, he walked across the wide yard and followed him in just as he started tossing hay into a corner pile.

The older man looked up at him, narrowing his gaze slightly before going back to work. "I was sort of hoping you'd come and talk with me, Jason. We didn't have a whole lot of time to talk last night after Shawn brought you in."

"About what, sir?" the fighter asked wondering what else they would need to talk about.

"About you, what were you doing before all of this? What about your family? Girlfriend? Parents? Siblings?" asked Hershel.

Jason leaned against one of the support posts for the loft and crossed his arms over his chest. "I worked in an auto body shop in Chicago, fixing and detailing cars for a living while at the same time I was training to become a professional fighter." he ran a hand through his hair, "I haven't had a girlfriend in a little over a year. As for my family, well, we lost touch a while back. Irreconcilable differences that kind of tore us apart."

"That's sad to hear. Family's the only real important thing we got left in this world. It's a shame yours is as broken as it is." replied the farmer with a bit of sympathy. "But now you've got this little girl to take care of. Clementine, is it? You just stumbled up on her?"

Jason nodded, "Yeah, was looking for help at her home and found her alone. Her babysitter was...no longer amongst the living. I couldn't just leave her like that." he said honestly.

Hershel hummed to himself before stabbing the pitchfork into the hay-pile and stepping forward. "Can I give you a piece of advice, son?"

"Sure." The younger man said giving his full attention.

"With things the way they are now, and how bad things may get later on, You're going to have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're going to make it." the old farmer smiled, "But, at least you have the common sense to listen to an old man giving you advice."

Jason smiled back, "Your generation set the ground work for mine, not listening to words of wisdom like that would be a huge mistake on my part." they shared a laugh right before a loud, mechanical roar was heard followed quickly by a scream of pain.

"What the fuck?!" the fighter ran out of the barn and ran straight for the house, Hershel right behind him.

"Go! I'll get my gun!" he called out, heading into the house while Jason ran around back and saw what all the trouble was.

Duck had somehow turned on the tractor, one of the front wheels having rolled over Shawn's leg and painfully crushing it down into the ground pinning him in place. At the same time, a walker had wandered up to the unfinished fence and was trying to reach through the gaps in the boards to grab on to him as he tried to pull himself free.

"SHAWN!" Jason sprinted toward the fence, reaching back and pulling the Glock from the waistband of his jeans and flicking the safety off as he brought it to bare.

_Bam!_ The walker's head exploded in a shower of blood and bone as the 9mm round punched through its forehead and out the back.

Duck screamed grabbing the fighter's attention, a second walker had come up and was attempting to pull him over the fence. He quickly reaimed and fired another shot that drilled right through the creature's temple and out the other side, allowing the boy to jump down from the tractor and run to his father who had come around the house with Katjaa and Clementine.

The wooden fence started creaking when a third walker appeared, leaning heavily on the wood but was quickly thrown back by a well placed round between the eyes. With the threat now gone, Jason put the gun in his back pocket before running over and started pushing against the tractors front. Putting all his strength into it and moving the machine just enough for Shawn to free his leg and crawl out from under it to a safe distance.

Hershel came around the house and observed what had happened, beyond thankful that everyone was okay. "Shawn!" the farmer yelled running over to his son and kneeling next to him.

"I'm okay dad, " Shawn winced as he tried moving his right leg which was obviously broken with a few patches of blood soaking through his pants. "J-Jason saved my life, Duck's life too." The old farmer looked up at Jason who stood facing him, nodding in thanks his way before tending to his son's injury.

Clementine was beaming, the whole thing had been scary, but her guardian had pulled through and managed to help everyone before anything bad could happen.

Then her eyes caught movement on the other side of the fence...right behind where Jason was standing! "JASON LOOK OUT!"

The fighter spun around just as the fence broke, a large walker going through the weakened boards easily. Rotting, cold hands grabbing his neck and bringing him to the ground as it struggled to get at his flesh.

Jason strained his arms against the undead, barely making out the others shouting behind him as he kept the hungry walker at bay. The gun had been knocked from its place and was laying off to the right, too far away for him to reach and if he tried the creature would take a chunk out of him in a second.

The slight digging in his right hip reminded him of the hammer he had stored there and immediately came up with a plan. Grabbing the walker by the neck, he snapped his head forward and slammed it against the undead monster's hard enough to make it recoil, just long enough to pull the hammer from his belt and cram the shaft of it into the thing's mouth as it snapped back to try and bite him again.

Now with a better hold, he used the walker's own leverage against it and rolled them both over so that now he was on top of it. Pulling his arm back, he punched the creature with all his strength in the temple, its head snapping to the side, a couple of its teeth shattering on the hammers shaft allowing him to free it from the thing's mouth.

With weapon in hand, he cocked it back and slammed the blunt end as hard as he could into the walker's head with a loud crunch. He repeated the action again, and again, and again. Each strike crushing bone and sending blood and grey matter splashing into the air. Small outcries of fury breaking from his lips with each successful hit while he kept swinging.

By the sixth hit the walker laid unmoving, its brain now nothing more than a pulpy mass oozing out of its shattered cranium like a broken egg on a kitchen floor. Jason breathed heavily, standing up slowly as he looked down at his latest kill. Blood splattered on his clothes, his arms, and dripping down from the hammer that was clenched tightly in his hand. Body shaking with tension as he tried to calm himself.

Letting the bloody tool slip from his hand and clatter softly to the grass, the fighter took a step back and sat on the ground, all the while keeping the walker in sight as his mind caught up with what had just happened.

Clementine broke away from the stunned group, running over to her guardian and wrapping her tiny arms around him in a tight embrace. Tears in her eyes seeing that he was okay and the monster was dead. The action alone was enough to break him out of his stupor as he hugged her back, doing what he could to sooth her from what she had to witness yet again.

No words were spoken from anyone. The tractor continuing to rumble while it sat idle by the fences opening and filling the silence.

**A/N: How's that for a change up?! If any of you out there have played the game you know full well about the many choices that had to be made that ultimately effected the over all plot. Jason will be facing similar situations, but the outcomes will be a bit different then what you might expect. I am also considering a pairing for Jason sometime in the future, but I'm having trouble figuring out who to put him with. Any ideas out there? Answer me via review.**

**Till next time guys!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Another day, another update. And I can tell you all now that I've also started working on my other stories and making a few changes that I will be applying in the near future. But for now, I'm having what fun I can with this one in particular.**

**Sorry about dropping the pairing-bombshell on you guys a little earlier than I had intended. But given the fact that at anytime a character can die in this kind of series, I wanted to figure out what you guys thought would be a good match for Jason before things progressed a certain way. And so far, a small poll has started in that regard. So far, here are the standings;**

**Molly: 3**

**Carley: 1**

**Maggie: 1**

**If you wanna throw anything else out there, let me know. Because the possible romance option won't be for quite a while so there is time. But for now, here's the next installment.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead.**

**Chapter 2: There Goes the Neighborhood**

Jason found himself in the same position of watching the world outside a passenger window fly past. Sitting in Kenny's truck with the man himself behind the wheel driving them along the main road. Katjaa, Clementine and Duck were all sitting in the back seat in comfortable silence.

They didn't stick around the farm very long after the walkers attacked. Shawn had a broken leg and a couple of deep cuts, but was alive and very thankful to the fighter for saving his life. He was being looked after by his father as they packed up what belongings they had, the older farmer coming out to see them off and shaking Jason's hand, thanking him from the bottom of his heart for what he had done and that he and Clementine were always welcome there.

Kenny and Katjaa had been in a similar state, since the younger man had also managed to save their son and was more than willing to offer him and his charge a lift anywhere they wanted to go. So after a couple of goodbyes and well wishes, they piled into the truck and set out toward the coast.

They'd been on the road for most of the day, the sun had already started setting just as they saw a small town approaching in the distance. "That's Macon, I remember us passing through here on our way up from home." said the fisherman as they drew closer.

"Hershel said something about this place, we can probably stock up on a few things as long as there aren't too many walkers wandering around." Jason replied turning to the windshield.

Kenny glanced his way, "Walkers?"

"Calling them 'zombies' makes it too sureal, figured that they at least needed a name." said the fighter, taking the time to pull out his Glock and check it over. He only had 12 rounds left in the clip, he'd have to make them count if they ran into trouble. But he'd also have to avoid using it so they didn't attract more attention.

On his left, the older man looked down at the weapon and sighed before going back to driving. "Jason, thanks. For saving my boy back at Hershel's farm. If you hadn't of reacted like you did..." he trailed off not even wanting to think about it.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Hershel, Ken." said Jason looking his way, "You don't have to thank me, and you never will. In a world like this, folks need to band together to overcome what we're facing." He looked back out his window as the outside began to darken even more. "These creatures...they don't feel exhaustion, they don't feel pain, and all they do is eat. They're like machines that spread like wildfire. But despite the fact that they're really dangerous, they have one thing they can use against us that will lead to our downfall if we're not careful."

Kenny was now solely focused on him, Katjaa and the kids were as well, listening closely. "And what's that?" asked the fisherman.

Jason looked back at him, his face completely serious. "Fear. It cripples a person to their core if it takes hold of them, makes people act irrationally and they can turn on one another, some even go crazy. The walkers don't feel it, but we sure as hell do, and it could cost us everything if we don't learn to overcome it."

"One of my trainers back home once told me before a match, 'You can't let fear take you. Cause then you'll make mistakes, and those mistakes could mean life or death in a bad situation. What you need to do is take that fear, and turn it into a weapon against your opponent' ." he continued.

"But...how do you learn to not be afraid?" asked Clementine leaning over the back of his seat.

The fighter turned and smiled at her, "It's not about _not_ being afraid, sweetheart. It's about coping with it and overcoming it. We're all afraid of something, but we can learn to live with it and not let it bother us. The walkers are stupid, slow, and easy to dispatch despite how they may scare us. The only real advantage they have is their numbers."

"Sounds like you got this all figured out." Kenny said with a slight smirk getting a chuckle out of Jason.

"Spent a good portion of my younger life watching zombie movies, playing video games and reading books. Never thought I'd actually have to put what I learned from that to good use, but I'm not complaining about it now."

Katjaa leaned on Kenny's seat, "Do you have a plan on how to handle this? What you're next step should be?" she asked.

Jason leaned back against his own seat, arms crossing over his chest as he blew a slow breath out his nose. "Been thinking about that all day. Clem and I are planning on hitting up Savannah to find her parents, if there's one thing I've learned from all those stories is that movement is survival. Finding a haven that's easily defendable is a good idea, but staying in one place for too long while leave you vulnerable after a while. Then there's the issue with supplies; food, water, weapons, medical, anyone needs a good surplus of all that to survive."

"That, I can get behind." said Kenny liking the idea. "You can definitely count on our support for that, friend. If there really is strength in numbers, then we better stick it out together."

Nodding in agreement, the fighter looked back toward the road just as a sign reading **'Welcome to Macon'** went past them. The truck rolled through the small town, shops and other small businesses lining the streets with their windows either shattered and boarded up. Debris and abandoned cars littered the streets and sidewalks making it look completely barren.

There were visible bloodstains splattered on several surfaces, but so far no sign of any walkers from what they could see.

They drew closer to a four-way intersection just as the truck started making stuttering noises from the engine, the gas-gauge on the dash telling them that they were on empty as the vehicle rolled to a complete stop. "Well, this is as far as we're going." Kenny muttered turning the engine off.

"Far enough for the time being, maybe we can pick up some gas and other supplies around here." Jason said as they all got out and started looking around. He looked at their surroundings, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as the smell of decay washed over him.

Taking out the Glock and flipping the safety off, he turned to Clementine. "Clem, you and Duck stick close to us. If you see anything out of the ordinary tell us immediately." the girl nodded as they set off down a nearby alley. Their footsteps seemingly echoing throughout the entire town as a still silence filled the air.

There wasn't any movement as they turned down a street, passing by a drug store with the neon sign still glowing with power. Jason took note of a lone corpse wearing hospital scrubs and a name tag, pinned underneath a downed telephone poll and propped against a wall when Duck called out to them.

"Look!" the boy pointed down another street where someone was crouched down behind an overturned sedan.

"Guess there are still people here after all." Kenny said stepping to the front. Jason felt something off about the situation and reached to stop him, but it was too late. "Hey there! You friendly? Truck's run out of gas."

The figure stopped what it was doing, raising up to see them standing there with half its face torn off with part of a man's arm dropping from its blood soaked mouth.

Soon walkers began coming from every direction, stumbling and crawling out from store fronts, under cars and out from alleyways and began to close in on them. "FUCK!" Kenny exclaimed backing up as the group stood closer together.

"We're trapped!" Katjaa screamed as the horde started boxing them in.

Jason gritted his teeth, aiming his gun at the undead before looking down and seeing a lead pipe at his feet. "Kenny! Catch!" he shouted picking up the blunt object and tossing it to the fisherman before taking out the hammer from his belt and holding it in his other hand. Driving the blunt end into a walker's forehead and caved it in with a loud crunch, he spun around with the pistol raised and shot another one through the left eye when it reached out to grab Katjaa.

Snatching the pipe from the air, the older man swung it hard into the temple of the closest walker and laying it out with one strike. Kicking another one away and bringing the weapon down on a second one's skull while more began to pour out from the nearby buildings.

One of the creatures flew past him and slammed against the side of a dead car and he turned to see the fighter roundhouse kicking another walker, the monster's head hitting a dumpster hard enough to snap its neck at a sharp angle before swinging around and burying the claw-end of the hammer into the top of the head of a third.

"AHHHH! NO!" the two men spun around and found a walker throwing itself on top of Duck, grabbing his arm and pulling it up to its mouth to take a bite out of it. Jason snapped up his gun to take the shot when another gunshot rang out, the side of the walker's head exploded outward splattering the boy with blood and gore.

A woman wearing a stained white-blouse and knee-length skirt was standing by the now open pharmacy door with two men standing by her. "RUN!" one of the men wearing a jacket and ball-cap shouted as the woman fired another shot and took down another walker.

Jason faced the coming horde and fired two more shots, keeping the undead at bay with their unknown savior as the others ran into the store. When they had made it, the two shooters spun and followed after them, the man that had called out closing a gate that was outside the door and snapping a combination lock on to it just as the walkers slammed into the gate, arms reaching through the bars trying to get at them as they slammed the doors to the pharmacy closed.

Last one inside, the fighter pressed his back to the door, gun still in hand as he listened to the walkers trying to break down the gate outside. "We can't take risks like this!" Turning to the stores interior, he found five other people all ready occupying the building.

The woman that helped keep the walkers off of them, another man wearing a green shirt standing by the window keeping watch on the outside, a second woman wearing a black tank top and jeans who was scowling at the first woman, an older man who looked to beyond pissed off. And the man that had sealed the gate, his appearance that of asian descent and as Jason got a closer look felt his eyes widen.

_"Wait a minute...that's Glenn!"_ he screamed in his thoughts.

"And we can't just let people die, either!" the first woman said to the second with narrowed eyes.

The other woman glowered, "When I SAY 'that door stays shut no matter what' I fucking MEAN it." she hissed through clenched teeth. "We don't know who these people are; they could be dangerous!"

"Worse! They could have led them right too us!" said the older man.

Jason felt his anger spike, "Hay, we have kids with us!" he whisper/yelled getting their attention. "The whole fucking town is infested, so don't pin that on us. And we're not dangerous to any of you." They all looked down at the gun in his hand as he flipped the safety off and slipped it into the waistband of his jeans.

"I see ONE little girl..." the disgruntled man snarked.

Clementine gripped Jason's other hand making him look down at her, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I...I have to pee." she said with her knees buckling a little, all the while the unknown group around them continued to argue.

"Hold on for just another minute or two, okay?" he replied before turning back to the stand off.

"They've got kids, Lilly." Glenn said to the one obviously leading them.

Lilly shook her head, "Those things outside don't care."

"Then maybe you should join 'em, then. You'll have something in common!" Kenny said now pissed.

"Kenny, cool it!" the fighter said holding his arm. "Starting shit won't solve anything, and they've got us outnumbered here." he whispered getting the man to relax, if only slightly. Neither of them noticing that Clementine had broken off from them and was heading to the bathroom located at the back of the store.

"Goddamn it, Lilly! You have to control these people!" the old man of the group bellowed.

"Carley and Glenn just ran out there!" Lilly said back.

"I don't give a flying fuck! We're in a warzone!"

Kenny turned to the fighter, "Jason, can you believe this lady?"

The man turned to him and sneered, "That _lady_ is my daughter." he said low and dangerously.

"I can see the resemblance. My son won't grow up to be a raging fucking lunatic, that's for certain." the fisherman shot back.

"Son?" the man turned and saw Katjaa cleaning the blood off of Duck at the nearby concession counter. "HO-LY shit...one of them is bitten!"

"Duck wasn't bitten!" Jason said immediately coming to the boy's defense.

"The hell he isn't, we have to end this now before he turns!" the man began making his way to the mother and child only for Kenny to step in his path.

"Over my dead body..."

The man narrowed his eyes to slits, "Then we'll dig one hole."

"No! I'm cleaning him up! There's no bite! He's fine!" Katjaa exclaimed while working twice as hard to clean her son up.

"Don't you fucking people get it?!" the man roared. "We've already SEEN this happen. We let someone with a bite stay and we all end up bitten!"

"Shut up." Kenny growled, his fists clenched as everyone began to gather around.

"We gotta throw him out! Or smash his head in!"

"KENNY, JASON STOP HIM!" Katjaa wailed as she desperately search Duck over for any sign of a bite.

Jason got in the man's face, completely ignoring the fact that he stood almost a head shorter than him. "You're not putting a fucking hand on anyone." he said dangerously. "You so much as take another step near that boy, you won't know which asshole to shit from."

"Will everyone CHILL THE FUCK OUT!" the other woman, Carley shouted.

"Nobody is doing anything." Lilly said to her.

"Lilly, shut up." the man snapped at her before turning to the other woman, "And you, shut the fuck up. They will find us and they will get in here, and none of this will fucking matter. But right now, we're about to be TRAPPED in here with one of those things!"

Kenny snarled at him, "What do you mean?"

"He's bitten! That's how you turn!"

Katjaa did one final check before speaking, "He's not bitten! Jason, please, stop this! It's upsetting him!"

"Oh, I'm 'upsetting' him?" the man snarked. "Upsetting is getting eaten alive! I'm not putting my daughter or the rest of us at risk simply because you fuckers won't accept the truth!"

"We've all got people in here! We can figure this out without killing anybody, there's always another way!" Jason said not backing down an inch.

"Yeah," The man said gravely, "With a shovel."

"Larry! Jesus Christ!" Glenn said not believing how bad things were getting.

Kenny snapped, "That's it! I'm gonna kill him! Kat, watch Duck!"

"Jason." Clementine called from the back of the store.

"Yeah, Clem?" he asked back not taking his eyes off of Larry.

"Someone's in the bathroom." she said hopping from foot to foot from desperation.

"It's probably just locked. Try under the counter, key's probably there."

Larry looked at the group, "Look, I'm not the bad guy here. I'm just trying to keep us all alive and my daughter safe."

"No, you're just the guy arguing for wanting to kill a kid!" Kenny fired back.

"He's covered in muck! She'll find the bite. WATCH!"

"She won't!"

"And if she does?" Larry asked leaning back. "The first thing he'll do is sink his teeth into his mom's face. Then, once she's dead, he'll probably pounce on YOUR little girl." he said shooting a glance toward Jason.

"For the last time, Duck wasn't bitten!" the fighter shouted. "And even if, _if_, he was, I think we can handle a little kid."

"A little kid?!" Larry said incrudensiously, "He'll be an uncontrollable man-eater! There's no getting around it, and were tossing him out NOW!" he surged forward to make a grab for Duck.

_CRACK!_ He was thrown backward, hitting the floor and grabbing his face as blood dripped from his now broken nose. Jason lowered his fist and shot a burning leer down at the man. "You're not touching him, or anybody else. And if you so much as THREATEN anyone in my group again..." he pulled out his gun and aimed it at Larry's head, clicking the safety off for emphasis. "I'll put you down like the mad fucking dog that you are."

For a few tense seconds, no one moved. No one could even breathe the tension was so thick. And yet in one moment it all shattered.

Clementine's frightened scream pierced the air grabbing the attention of everyone. She backpeddled from the bathroom door just as the rotting form of a walker fell out and began to crawl its way after her.

"CLEMENTINE!" Jason shouted, vaulting over a low shelf and charging forward as the undead grabbed for her legs. "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" he drove the steel-toed tip of his right shoe hard into the monster's forehead with a sickening crunch, knocking it away from the girl and flat on its back where he stomped on its face until its skull exploded under his heel.

Taking a few deep breaths, he turned to Clementine who was shaking like a leaf. "Clem, you okay?" he asked gently, kneeling down and holding her face in his hands. She whimpered with tears in her eyes before throwing her arms around his neck, burrowing her face in his chest. "It's okay, sweetheart. It can't hurt you now." he whispered to her.

"Uh...guys." Glenn said nervous as pounding could be heard along the boarded up windows around the store. Everyone stood tense as the noise continued, the walkers tried to find a way in.

"Everybody down! Stay quiet!" Lilly whisper/yelled to the group as they all took cover. Clementine clung to Jason while he had his gun raised at the closest window. The hungered groans and moans of the undead outside filling the store in tandem with

"There gonna get in!" Larry said, dried blood caked under his now black and blue nose.

"Shut up!" Kenny snapped just as the sounds of automatic gunfire could be heard somewhere in the distance along with a couple of small explosions.

"That the military?" asked the man that had been keeping watch before.

"I don't know," replied Lilly while it continued.

The sound of a helicopter flying overhead roared loudly and soon the pounding on the windows came to an end, the walkers outside following after the louder noise and leaving those in the pharmacy alone. "Thank god, for whatever it was." Glenn said relieved.

"We almost died because of this bitch and that fucker's itchy trigger fingers!" Larry roared sending a withering glare Jason and Carley's way. "That was stupid! That was-" he stopped mid-sentence with a grunt, grabbing at his chest before collapsing to the floor.

"DAD!" Lilly screamed running to his side as he clutched at his shirt even tighter.

"What's happening to him?" the fighter asked putting his gun away.

Lilly looked up at him tensely, "It's his heart. He doesn't have his pills to help."

"Nitroglycerin pills?" asked Katjaa.

"YES." the younger woman said stressfully, "We're out and have been trying to get into the pharmacy since we got here! Please, try to get in there! Behind the counter where all the pills are being kept!"

Jason nodded, "We'll get them, there's gotta be another way inside." he didn't feel right about trying to help someone who was threatening to kill Duck, but they had bigger problems at the moment. "For now we should split up and try to gather anything useful, we could be stuck here while that horde is still out there."

'I'm starting to think that this drugstore isn't a permanent solution." commented Glenn now joining the conversation.

"He's right," added Kenny, "This isn't exactly Fort Knox."

The fighter began to think about their options, "We need gas, at least enough so that we all can get the hell out of town."

Glenn nodded, "Was thinking the same thing. There's a motel not too far from here, out towards the end of Peachtree. I'll work my way towards it and then loop back, siphoning what I can."

"If you're up for it, take this with you." Jason said handing the delivery man the walkie-talkie that he was still carrying. "Clementine's got the other one, contact her if you need any help. We'll bail you out. Keep your head down and get back here as fast as you can, it might not be safe here for much longer."

"Gotcha, wish me luck." Glenn turned to the office door on the opposite side of the store and disappeared through it. Leaving the others to coordinate amongst themselves and get set up in their temporary haven for the time being.

The unnamed man, Doug, went back to watching the front to keep an eye on the undead outside while everyone else began looking through what was available within the store.

Jason sent another look toward the boarded up windows where he could hear the walkers still milling around out in the street. _"Can't stay here long, we better work fast."_

X

About an hour had passed since Jason's group had arrived at the drug store, and the whole time he had spent it going through the shelves, boxes and cabinets that he had access to for anything they would be useful to them.

The store had been ransacked pretty hard, supplies were scarce and whatever was left wasn't much help for their situation. There were a couple of energy bars laying around that got past out to keep everyone fed, and a couple of batteries that were used on a radio to help them keep ears out on what was happening elsewhere.

Jason couldn't help but chuckle when Carley had trouble getting the thing to work only to find that she had but the batteries in backwards, something that left her flushed with embarrassment considering she was a reporter.

After talking with the group that had inhabited the place before them, the fighter discovered that the place had been abandoned when they had arrived. Larry having dragged the bodies of an elderly couple out into the alley incase they would come back.

When everyone was settled for the time being, Jason headed over to Kenny and his family to check on them. "Everything okay?" he asked, Duck had been unnaturally quiet since the ordeal outside and it had him a bit worried for the boy.

"As good as can be expected." replied Kenny, "Nice right-cross you got there, guess you weren't foolin' around about you being a fighter and all that."

The younger man shrugged, "Wish it didn't have to come that, but he was being an ass, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him hurt your kid."

"Thank you for that, Jason." Katjaa said while reaching out and squeezing his hand.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat, I know you both would do the same for Clementine if the situation called for it." Jason looked over behind the counter where his charge was munching on the energy bar he had given her, eyes locked on her walkie-talkie as she waited for Glenn to contact them.

"How's she doing?" asked Kenny.

"Good, for the most part. A little shook up but nothing too bad." came the reply.

"She's a tough one, right there." commented the fisherman, "No normal little girl can make it through something like this the way she has."

Jason couldn't help but smile at the girl as she looked his way, smiling back and waving in his direction. "Yeah, she's special alright." he said lowly before turning back to the family, "I'm gonna search out the office, if anything happens come find me."

Kenny nodded, "You got it, man."

Turning to the lone door that said **'Employees Only'**, a smaller written sign below it stating **'Alive Here.'**, Jason grabbed the knob and turned it slowly, pushing the door open and peering into the room beyond to be sure that it was really cleared out.

The place was a mess like the rest of the store. Overturned furniture was pressed up against the doors leading out into the alley and into the pharmacy in the back. A small table was set up in the corner by a bookshelf that had a tv on top, a lantern on its surface lighting part of the room revealing empty food cans and a dented first aid kit.

On the floor was a mattress and blankets that were stained with blood, a dried pool on the tiles next to it that spread out pretty far. _"These people didn't deserve this..."_ Jason thought to himself while pushing the door open the rest of the way and stepping inside. The door stopped part-way making him turn in time to see Clementine slip through as well.

"What are you doing here, Clem?" he asked wondering why she followed him.

"I thought I could help you find a way into the back, if that's okay." she replied looking up with her bright eyes.

Jason smiled, "Sounds good, the two of us together should be able to figure this out." the girl beamed up at him before surveying the room. "What did you think of everyone out there?" he asked as they started searching.

"Everyone seems okay, well, maybe not the sick guy." Clementine said at his side.

"Yeah, he was kind of a jerk wasn't he?" said the fighter. He noticed that she had stopped and turned to see what was the matter. She was standing at the edge of the pool of dried blood, eyes not leaving the surface as she trembled a bit. "Clem?" he asked walking back over to her.

She looked up at him. "T-That thing in the bathroom...it tried to get me." her eyes started shimmering, "But, you stopped it. C-Can you do that more?"

He nodded seriously, "I won't let anything happen to you." he held out his right pinky finger to her, "And that's a promise." Clementine smiled as she wrapped her smaller finger with his and they locked them together. "Now, let's find Larry's medicine and get out of here."

Heading to the back door that led to the pharmacy, the fighter grabbed a pallet that was leaning against the desk blocking the entrance. Moving it aside, a hard-wood cane fell to the side and clattered to the floor. Picking it up, he tested the weight of it before leaning it against the pallet he had just moved. "Now, for the desk." he muttered looking at the obstruction.

"Can I help?" asked Clementine with a hopeful look on her face.

"Sure," he replied grabbing on to one side while she took the other, "On the count of three, pull it back. Watch your fingers so they don't get pinched." he instructed getting a nod in response. "One, two...three." They both pulled the desk back a little ways from the door

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's not heavy." his charge replied.

"What about with everything happening outside?"

She looked down, "It's not good." her head raised and she smiled at him, "But I think it'll get better."

Jason didn't really know how to respond to that, instead he just smiled back and nodded as they grabbed the desk again and moved it back some more. "Do you have kids?" Clementine asked making the fighter stumble a little bit.

"I'm still pretty young, Clem. So no, not at the moment." he said back as he started angling the desk toward the wall.

"You don't have a family?" she asked with furrowed brows.

Her guardian closed his eyes, "I did...but we don't talk anymore."

"Why? Do they hate you?" Clementine pushed.

"In a way, yeah." Jason answered truthfully, "They wanted me to be something I wasn't, and they didn't like it when I refused to act the way they wanted. So we stopped speaking to each other, I didn't want it to be that way but they just didn't like who I was as a person."

The little girl's brows furrowed more, "But..._I_ like the way you are. You're nice, and strong, and protect people from those monsters. You're a good person."

For the first time in a while, Jason felt his heart warm up a little. To know that this girl, who didn't even really know him, looked at him in such a way made him feel like he actually meant something to someone. "Thanks, Clem. That really means a lot to me." They both went back to the desk and moved it again, pushing it up against the wall so that it was out of the way.

"OWW!" Clementine jumped back clutching at her right index-finger as a small stream of blood slipped down it.

"You okay?" the fighter asked concerned.

"I hurt my finger," she said showing him the damage.

Looking it over, he picked her up by her waist and set her down on the desk, "I'll find you a bandage, just sit tight." he turned to the small first aid kit on the other table and popped it open. There was barely anything left in it, but there were a couple of bandaids at the bottom that he picked up and brought over to the desk. "Now, let's see if we can fix that finger." he said taking the girl's hand and looking at the small cut.

"It still hurts a little." she said as he gently wiped some of the blood away.

"It's all good, sweetheart. I got just the thing for it." he took out the bandaid and wrapped it around the tip of her finger effectively sealing it. "There, nothing to it." he said grinning up at her and getting a small giggle in return.

"Jason?" she asked getting his attention when she calmed down, "What if my parents come home and I'm not there?"

The answering machine messages played through his thoughts again, a cold feeling settling in his stomach at the possible truth on whether or not her parents were even still alive. But at the same time he couldn't just crush her with it, what little bit of innocence she had left would be destroyed.

And in a time and place like this, something like that should be cherished for as long as possible.

"Don't worry, Clem. I'm sure they'd try and track us down." he answered.

"Yeah, okay. We better keep a look out then." she said sounding optimistic. "I've still got my walkie-talkie, incase they try that way."

Jason nodded, biting the inside of his cheek before looking her in the eye again. "Listen, Clem. I know I'm not you're dad or anything like that. But I _will_ take care of you, no matter what it takes and no matter what gets in my way. Just stay close to me, okay?" Clementine looked up at him and saw how serious he was and couldn't help but feel safe knowing he was there.

Turning to the pharmacy door, he tried the handle and found it locked.

"Damn, maybe the keys are around here somewhere." the fighter started going through the drawers of the desk, finding loose papers and pens but no keys. He'd also found a remote control for the tv in the office, but as expected, none of the stations were working.

Slipping the remote in his back pocket, he went over to the pool of blood and found a shattered picture frame of the people that ran the store, an elderly couple and their two older sons standing in front of the building the day it was opened.

Releasing a small sigh, he set the broken frame on the table by the lantern before helping his charge down from the desk. "Let's head back into the drug store, maybe we can find what we need to get in the back from there."

Clementine nodded, "Okay." They were about part way to the door when her walkie-talkie went off.

_**"Hey there, this is Glenn and uh, I'm kinda in a jam here."**_ Glenn's voice echoed from the speaker. _**"Uh, little girl, if you're there, can you put your daddy on the phone? Or on the talkie, or whatever?"**_

_"Do I seriously look old enough to be her dad?" _Jason thought with a shake of his head as Clementine handed her walkie to him. "Glenn? It's Jason, what's wrong?" he asked as they stepped back into the store and garnering the attention of the others.

_**"So...I'm down at that motor inn and, well, I-I'm stuck..."**_

"How bad?" asked the fighter.

_**"Pretty bad...I, uh, saw a chance to get some supplies for the group and a bunch of the roaming ones got the jump on me."**_ Glenn replied. _**"I'm hiding out here, but they won't leave."**_

"What's the problem?" asked Kenny.

"Glenn's trapped at the motor inn, walkers got him surrounded." Jason replied going back to the radio, "Glenn, we're gonna talk it over and send someone out to come get you. Just sit tight and try not to bring any attention to where you're hiding."

_**"Awesome, I'll just sit tight until then."**_

Looking down at his charge, the fighter slipped her radio on his hip, "I'm gonna hold on to this, at least until we get Glenn back. Don't worry, I'll take good care of it." She nodded hesitantly as he turned to the group.

"So what's the plan?" asked Kenny crossing his arms.

Looking at everyone around him, Jason nodded to himself before speaking, "Doug doesn't seem to do too well with walkers, you've got your family to look after, and Lilly needs to stay with her dad for the time being. Carley and I are pretty good shots, so we'll head down to the motor inn, grab Glenn and get back here as quickly as we can."

"Sounds good, I'm in." said the reporter.

The fighter nodded to her, "Alright, we'll head out in ten minutes. Gather what supplies you think you'll need and we'll head out through the exit in the office." He started going through the box of supplies he had managed to gather, pulling out two rolls of duct tape and a couple of magazines that he had found on one of the racks in the front.

_"Time to put what I know to good use."_

**A/N: A good amount of zombie killing, and a emotional moment between Jason and Clementine. Things are starting to heat up, and Glenn's rescue and the escape from Downtown Macon is in the next chapter. Prepare for a lot of bloodshed...because some people might not make it to see the sunrise.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Another day, and I bring with it another update. So glad to see spring finally starting to come around, bout damn time we really started getting warmer weather. **

**I've been recieving a lot of good feedback through PM, the pairing poll for Jason has been added to by leaps and bounds. And everything now stands here;**

**Molly: 3**

**Maggie: 3**

**Lilly (Reformed): 3**

**Carley: 2**

**A three-way tie, definitely unexpected. I know for those that have played the game that the possibility of a Lilly pairing is unappealing, but like one of my readers pointed out to me, I have the power to change-up this story in any way to make such a thing happen. If she happens to win out in the poll I can and will make it so that she's not the big bitch she was in the original story. But there is still a lot of time to vote, so be sure to cast yours in if you have the chance.**

**There will be a lot of zombie killing and bloodshed coming up, so be ready.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead (In any context)**

**Chapter 3: Escape from Macon**

The back alleys of Macon were shrouded in darkness, a few roaming walkers stumbled through the streets outside, but there didn't seem to be any in the path of the two individuals making their way toward the outer edge of town.

Jason pressed his back to a dumpster, gun in hand as he peered around the side and out into the street. Ducking down as another walker skulked past the opening and disappeared behind a couple of overturned cars. He signaled farther down the alley and Carley moved up to crouch down next to him.

"How much farther is this motel?" asked the fighter checking to see the coast was clear.

"About four more blocks, it's on the road that heads out of Downtown Macon." replied Carley holding her own gun ready. Her eyes looking down at the younger man's arms where he had two thick sports magazines wrapped around his forearms and bound there with duct tape. "You really think that makeshift armor of yours will work?"

Jason looked down at his arms a moment, "They should, their teeth can only go so far if something blocks them. One comes at me, it'll buy me a couple of seconds to put them down." he explained before checking the street again, "Coast is clear, let's move."

The duo got up and crouch-ran across the open street, the walkers still milling about none the wiser as they disappeared down another alley and moved closer to the outskirts.

It had been a longer trek then they had anticipated, the amount of undead filling the streets proving to be a challenge to avoid but they had managed regardless. Sticking to the shadows and keeping out of the main roads as much as possible while they picked their way toward where Glenn was being held up.

It had taken them about 20 minutes to get out of the town's limits and up the road, the neon light of the Traveler's Motel glowing brightly in the dark with a couple of street lamps lighting the road as they approached. Jason kept his gun up, eyes sharp as he kept a look out for wandering undead in the vicinity.

"Fuck! Get down!" He whisper/yelled pulling the reporter down with him behind a low-wall. Just barely missing a walker as it got up from the wall of the motel and ambled past where they had just ducked. Both of them gripping their weapons as the creature moved away from their location.

Peering over the wall, Jason was able to count five walkers within the motel's property. Three of them roaming around the parking lot, the other two were pounding on a door to a room on the second floor in the far corner.

Movement out of the corner of his eye made him glance in the direction of the ice machine in front of them. "Did you see that?" Carley asked following the same line of sight as he was.

"Yeah, I did." the fighter replied, vaulting over the low-wall and slowly approaching the metal container. Gun leading and the reporter behind him aiming incase he needed it, he grabbed the handle and pulled it open.

And was greeted with the sight of a relieved Glenn who looked at the barrel of his handgun uneasily. "Uh...hay? I'm glad you guys finally made it." he said climbing out of the ice machine.

"Jesus, Glenn." Carley muttered as the delivery man and the fighter vaulted back over the wall and crouched down next to her.

"Alright, that was easier than I thought it would be." said Jason a bit relieved that it hadn't gotten any worse.

"Can we just get out of here before any of these things notice us?" said Carley wanting to get as far from this place as possible.

Glenn shook his head, "We can't yet, there's a survivor up there that needs our help." he pointed up to the door where the two walkers were still pounding on the surface trying to get inside.

The reporter shook her head in return, "No way, we gotta go. NOW."

"Just listen. I was out here looking for gas. And then, up there in the corner room, I heard crying coming from inside." Glenn started explaining. "It's a girl. We talked and she got frightened. I was trying to get in and help her and she started yelling and saying I was bitten. I tried to convince her I wasn't and that's when all of these guys came out of the forest. A couple almost got me and I ended up hiding in the ice machine."

"Lucky you, now let's go." Carley pressed.

"We can't just leave her." said the delivery man pleadingly.

Jason nodded seriously, "No, we can't."

Carley looked between them as though they each had grown another head, "You two are suicidal...over a girl!"

The fighter turned on her, "And if that so-called _girl_ was you? And you were in desperate need of help, what then?" he asked, his eyes boring into hers.

For a few moments the reporter faltered before sighing, "Alright, fine. Let's go save Glenn's damsel in distress." They got up and moved along the wall, running across the opening to the parking lot and hiding down behind the wall below the motels sign.

Jason looked out over the parking lot at their opposition before looking at his companions. "Alright, here's what I have in mind. We have no idea how hard it's going to be to get her out of that room, she's obviously traumatized. So we'll have to take out every single one of them before we can even try."

He saw Carley check the clip of her pistol, "Quietly." he stated getting her to look up at him. "Noise will only draw attention, and might even cause more to show up. We need to be as discreet as possible." Looking back over the parking lot, he caught sight of a walker feasting on the corpse of an unlucky individual, he also took notice of another moving along the wall of doors by the stairs leading up to where the girl was hiding, and a third laying against the rear tire of a derelict car that was up on blocks. The one that had moved when they arrived having disappeared behind the RV that was across from where they were hiding.

Looking down at the ground behind the wall, he reached out and grabbed an old pillow that had been lying there. "Good luck smothering them to death." Carley said while wondering what he had up his sleeve.

"Just trust me and stay low." he whispered back before moving along the wall toward the other entrance to the parking lot. The one closest to the walker slouched against the car, "Carley, stay right on my ass and have your gun ready."

"But the noise..." she trailed off as he held up the pillow with a smirk on his face. Nodding in understanding of what he was up to, the duo moved out from their cover and headed toward the undead.

The creature's lone eye seeing them coming, arms reaching out to grab them just as the fighter pressed the pillow hard over its face and pinning it to the car. Carley moved up right behind him, pressing the barrel to where the walker's head was located and pulling the trigger. The gunshot muffled by the cushion as the corpse slumped to the ground with a bleeding hole in its head.

"That was sick!" Glenn whisper/yelled to them.

Tossing the now useless pillow aside, Jason moved over to the driver's side door of the car. Opening it as quietly as he could and leaning into the vehicle, finding a spark plug on the seat and pocketing it before reaching for the gear shift. "Get ready to move on my go." he whispered to Carley as he shifted the car into neutral and closed the door.

Moving toward the front of the vehicle, he gave it a strong shove causing it to roll down off the blocks and head straight for the walker moving along the motel wall. "Move!" he said to the reporter as they ran to where Glenn was hiding behind a truck below the balcony where the survivor was hiding out.

The car gained speed as it moved across the asphalt before slamming into the walker and pinning it to the wall with the back bumper. The two walkers above turned at the sudden noise and looked down at their struggling comrade before going back to trying to get into the room before them.

"That was close." said Carley as things seemed to settle down. Jason moved along the truck and peered into through the window hoping to find something else they could use against the remaining walkers.

Luck being on their side when he found a screwdriver laying on the seat. But the issue was that they doors were locked and there didn't seem to be any way to get inside other than to break the window.

_"Too much noise...there's gotta be another-"_ he paused mid-thought when he remembered the spark plug he'd gotten from the car. Remembering back to his time at the auto body shop and how the porcelain contained within the part was able to shatter glass like it was nothing.

Dropping the sparkplug to the ground, he stomped down on it and crushed it into pieces. Reaching down to pick up the piece he was looking for, he turned to the car window, cocking his arm back and throwing the tiny component into the window and breaking it easily.

After waiting a moment or two to be sure that the walkers didn't hear the noise, the fighter reached in through the broken window and grabbed the screwdriver. "That could scramble a brain or two." Glenn commented.

"Had the same thought in mind." replied Jason, motioning for them to follow him as they moved back to their original spot below the sign. He looked at the undead that was still eating, flipping the tool around so that the end was pointed down like a dagger as he moved out from behind the wall and crept slowly up behind the walker.

Pausing in mid-bite, the monster went to turn around only for the fighter to grab it by the forehead and stab the screwdriver through the back of its skull. It gave a soft groan/exhale and fell motionless while Jason gently laid it on the ground by the body it was feeding from, motioning to the others as they all moved to the front of the RV.

The fighter peered around the large vehicle and saw the walker from before just standing there and staring at the side of it. He whistled just loud enough for the creature to hear him and ducked down as it turned and began to shuffle their way.

"What are you-" he held his hand up stopping Carley's question cold as his legs tensed, hearing the walker's dragging footsteps as it drew closer to where they were hunkered down.

Just as it came up to them, he was in motion.

Jason's right leg kicked out taking the walker off its feet, he was on it a second later, driving the screwdriver through its left eye and killing it instantly. They didn't stop there, as one, they moved over to the walker pinned by the car. Seeing them coming, it reached its arms out to grab at them emitting a series of growls before being silenced when the same tool used to kill the other two was driven into the top of its head where it got stuck.

Glenn chuckled, "Dude, where'd your weapon go?" he asked in mock seriousness.

"Asshole over here took it." the fighter said smirking as he turned to the case on the wall next to him and found a fire axe sitting on the pegs within. "It's all good though, I think I found something better." he picked the axe up, checking its weight as he held the handle in both hands.

Looking up toward the last two walkers, he walked slowly to the stairs leading to the balcony. "You two stay down here and keep a look out for anymore. I got these guys."

"Try to hurry up, being here for too long won't be good for any of us." Carley said while gripping her pistol.

Nodding to her, Jason walked up the stairs as quietly as possible, reaching the second landing and facing the two walkers as they continued to pound on the walls by the door. He gripped the axe in his hands, heart pounding in his chest as he started walking toward them.

The first walker turned, noticing him coming and began to shuffle its way toward him. Waiting until the right moment, he swung the axe and slammed the flat side against the side of its head and sent it pitching over the railing and falling to the ground head-first with a resounding crunch.

Hearing the noise, the last walker turned only to have its head taken off its shoulders. Jason pulled the axe from the wall and whistled to the others as he approached the door the undead had been trying to get into, hearing the sound of someone crying on the other side.

A board was nailed across the frame sealing it from the outside which had the fighter curious before he knocked loudly on the door itself. "Hello? We're here to help!" he said through the wood.

"Please, just go away!" a woman's voice cried out.

"Let's go guys?" Carley said as she and Glenn stood close by.

"Just hold on a second," Jason said before trying again. "Miss, if you open the door we can take you to a safer place. We've got a group back in town that can take care of you."

"No! No! No! Please!" came the reply.

"She's in trouble!" Glenn said anxiously.

Stepping back from the door, the fighter gripped his axe and raised it. "Hang on, we're coming in!" He swung down and chopped through the board that was sealing the door before trying the knob. Finding it locked he gave it a swift kick when the woman spoke again.

"Stop, just stop! I'm coming out." A moment later the door opened to reveal a young woman with light-brown hair wearing shorts and a purple t-shirt. Her complexion was very pale, dark circles shadowed underneath her eyes that had started to take on a yellowish tint to them.

But what stood out the most about her was the wound on her side that she was covering with her hand, blood seeping out from between her fingers and staining her clothes dark-crimson.

"Oh my god..." Carley said, her face paling.

"I...I said stay away..." the woman whimpered, removing her hand and revealing a chunk of flesh missing from her side. The wound in the distinctive shape of someone's mouth. "I told you. I said go away! I'm bit. But you wouldn't just leave."

"M-Maybe it isn't that bad. You could be fine." Glenn tried to reason,

She shook her head hard, "I won't be fine! My boyfriend was bitten! You get sick and die and you come back and you kill anything you can find!"

"You have a boyfriend?" Glenn asked feeling a bit down. Jason sent him a scathing look that he flinched back from before turning to the distraught woman.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" he asked feeling sympathetic toward the woman's situation.

She looked down toward and saw the Glock in the front pocket of his jeans, "You have a gun. Can I borrow it?"

Carley and Glenn sent her a stunned look. "What do you mean by 'borrow'?" asked the reporter, not liking where this was going.

"I...I don't want to be one of those things, it's not Christian. Please...give it to me, let me end this before it's too late...I don't wanna be one of them! They're...they're...satanic." she pleaded with them.

The fighter looked into her eyes and saw that nothing they could do would change her mind. She wanted to end this on her terms before she turned and was asking for their help. Exhaling slowly, he drew his pistol. "Glenn, grab the supplies you managed to find and get them into your car. Carley, go with him." he said with all emotion gone from his voice.

"Jason, what the hell are you doing?" Glenn said in shock. Carley was in the same state looking at the fighter in a similar fashion.

"Both of you know as well as I do that there isn't a good outcome to this. She wants to do this on her terms, it wouldn't be right to deny her of that." he explained to them not taking his eyes off the woman before him.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Carley really not liking the situation.

Jason nodded, "It's my choice to help her...I won't make you guys stay. Just wait for me down by the car and I'll be there in a minute." The other two hesitated for a few moments before nodding back to him, casting one final look at the sick woman and heading toward the parking lot.

"Thank you so much, I know how terrible this must be." the woman said relieved as the fighter handed her his weapon.

He looked at her sadly, "God bless you ma'am, and may he accept you with open arms." he said knowing that she was religious.

She smiled at him, "Thank you...You're a good man." she raised the gun up and pressed it to her temple. Jason closed his eyes and turned his head as the weapon went off, the splash of blood filled the air before the dull thud of a body hitting the ground.

Opening his eyes, the fighter reached down and picked up his gun. His body and mind numb as he closed the woman's eyes as blood pooled below her head before turning and heading toward the stairs, going down to the parking lot where Glenn and Carley were waiting for him.

X

The ride back was done in silence. No one wanted to speak about what had happened back at the motel. Jason sat in the back, head bowed and eyes closed as the image of seeing the woman moments before she executed herself forever burned into his memory.

It was in this moment that everything finally hit home. A part of himself must have still held on to some belief that this was all still some kind of dream and he'd wake up at some point. Even after all the walkers he'd killed and the near-death moments that could have taken him out, part of his brain still refused to except reality.

But that was all done now. This _was_ reality. Zombies were real, real people were dying out there, some in very horrible and painful ways. There was no _waking up_, he was in this shit now and there was no turning back.

He popped the clip out of his Glock, counting eight bullets left before snapping it back in place and flicking the safety on. "Jason." glancing up he saw Carley looking back at him with a concerned expression. "You okay?"

"Been better." the fighter said running a hand over his head. "Seen too much death in the last two days...just preparing myself to see more in the near future." his voice was quiet, but devoid of emotion which unsettled the reporter more than she cared to admit.

They lapsed back into silence as Glenn pulled the car into the alley behind the pharmacy, getting out, the trio went through the back entrance into the office and headed straight into the store where everyone stood waiting for them.

"Hay, everything alright?" asked Kenny.

Jason nodded, "Yeah. Couple of close calls, but nothing that couldn't be handled. Glenn's okay...we're all okay."

Glenn bowed his head, hiding his eyes under the bill of his hat. "I've got a few cans of gas for your pickup in the trunk of my car."

The fisherman nodded, "Good to hear."

"How have things been here?" asked Carley.

"Our 'friend' is still in and out over there." Kenny said motioning to Larry who was still slumped on the floor with Lilly watching over him. "He won't survive anymore stress."

Jason nodded, "Then our next task is getting those pills, though the keys don't seem to be in the store. I checked around the alley out back when Carley and I went to go get Glenn and came up with nothing, think I'll check out front and see if they could be there."

The others nodded in agreement just as Clementine pushed her way through the group, reaching her guardian and wrapping her small arms around his waist. "I'm glad you're back." she mumbled into his shirt while the group dispersed.

The fighter smiled down at her as he embraced her back. "Everything been okay here?" he asked.

"Mmmhmm." She looked up and frowned when she looked him in the eye. "Did...did something bad happen?"

Jason sighed, "We...had a bit of trouble when we went to go get Glenn, but everyone's okay. Don't worry." He didn't want to mention anything about the woman taking her own life, better to keep that between himself, Glenn and Carley. "I'm going to go see if I can find the keys to the pharmacy. Stay put for a couple more minutes and I'll be right back." he said handing her, her walkie-talkie back. "Thank you for letting me borrow it."

Clementine nodded her thanks before heading to her spot back behind the counter. The fighter looked toward the front door where Doug was still keeping watch and heading in his direction, picking up his newly acquired axe along the way.

"Anything?" he asked the man.

Doug shook his head, "Nothing, luckily. Want to step outside, have a look around?" he asked.

"The gate outside still holding?" said the fighter.

"Yeah, and the undead seem to be ignoring this place for now. So it should be pretty safe for us if we go out as long as we keep the noise as low as possible." replied Doug. Jason nodded, motioning to the door as they opened it and stepped out into the warm night air.

Both of them paused as they got a good look at the four-way intersection outside the drug store. There were walkers _everywhere_, losing count around thirty or more all roaming in the streets, a couple of them feeding on a corpse by the store across from where they were standing.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Doug groaned, holding his hand over his mouth seeing one walker pull a long rope of intestines and began ripping into it. "All they do is...eat. And whatever's left..."

"Comes back as one of them." Jason finished, his eyes looking at the horde before them with a calculating gaze. He stopped when he caught sight of the walker he had seen pinned against the dumpster when his group had arrived in town earlier.

He was african-american wearing set of teal-colored scrubs, but regardless of the fact that he was decaying like the others, the fighter recognized him from somewhere. "Over there." he said pointing at the walker in question as they crouched down to avoid detection. "I think that one might have the keys we need to get into the pharmacy."

"How can you be sure?" asked the other man sounding doubtful.

"There was a picture back in the office, he was in it with the people that owned this place. And the name tag he's wearing marks him as an employee. It's the best bet we have at the moment since the keys don't seem to be in the building." said Jason.

Doug thought it over before nodding in agreement. "Alright, we'll give it a shot. How do you want to do this?"

Jason looked around the street again, eyes locking on to the tv store across the street on the other side. Remembering the remote in his back pocket, he took it out and pointed it at the window containing a dozen different sets and pushed the power button.

Nothing.

"Here, let me." Doug said taking the device and tampering with it. "It's a universal remote, I think I might be able to program it to work with those tvs. As long as the powers still on over there." Another second or two later he pushed the power button and the tvs all switched on revealing bright screens filled with static.

A couple of walkers stopped and looked at the screens briefly before going back to their endless stalking. "It's working, but not enough." Jason looked through the bars of the gate and saw a brick laying on the ground just outside. But it was too far out of his reach, he'd have to open the gate to get it and the combination lock Glenn had put on it prevented that.

"I got an idea, but we need to open the gate for it to work." he said to Doug while moving back to the front door, picking up his axe and standing upright before standing in front of the gate. The other man tensed as he positioned the axe just right before reeling back and hitting the lock with enough force to cut through it and knock it to the ground.

Laying the axe to the side, the fighter opened the gate just enough to reach out and pick up the brick he had seen. "I know what you've got in mind." Doug said looking at the window to the tv store, "You only got one shot, you miss...and we're all in trouble."

"Then I better not miss, huh?" Jason stepped out of the safe confines, brick in hand as he gauged the distance he would need to throw before lobbing the brick through the air, over the ambling walkers' heads before it shattered through the glass.

The sound of the breaking window, followed quickly by the blast of white-noise from the static being displayed turned the heads of every undead in the surrounding area. They all moved as one toward the source and began to pile around the now open window where it was at its loudest.

Satisfied with the results, Jason picked up his axe again and turned to Doug. "Keep an eye on those things. They start taking notice, warn me so I can get back here fast." the man nodded as the fighter braced himself before sprinting out of the gate toward the downed walker, trying his best to make his footfalls as soft as possible.

He reached the target in moments, the walker looked up and tried to grab him with its one good arm. Snarling and growling the whole time as it tried to get at the meal that had presented itself.

Being sure to stay out of its reach, Jason looked over to make sure the horde was still distracted before taking the axe in both hands. Raising it over his head and bringing it down on the struggling creature's skull with an echoing crunch/splat. Dark blood and decaying brain matter splattering on the dumpster and the powerline that had been pinning it as it slumped forward.

After pulling the axe free and setting it aside, the fighter began checking the dead man's pockets as quickly as he could. Moving the body around some until he found purchase in the front pockets. _"Bingo!"_ he smirked pulling out a small ring of keys, slipping them into his own pocket before turning and heading back to the store.

"Jason move!" Doug called out. The fighter's head snapped to the side and saw the walkers by the tv store start to turn around, pale eyes locking on to his form and coming at him in a wave. He didn't stick around and bolted for the gate, closing it as best he could before they both went through the door and slammed it behind them.

"Lilly! Got the keys!" Jason called over to her. "We gotta move fast, walkers outside know we're in here and the gate's unlocked." The woman was on her feet as they went straight into the office and toward the pharmacy door.

"You're pretty amazing, you know that." Lilly said thankfully.

"Get back to me when we have the old man's pills and are on our way out of this infested shit-hole." the fighter replied unlocking the door and stepping through. He barely had a moment to register anything as the shrill cry of an alarm screeched through the air. "Oh FUCK!" he shouted over the noise. "EVERYONE, GRAB WHAT YOU CAN AND GET READY TO RUN!"

X

The alarm was so loud that it echoed through the silent town, anyone and anything within six square blocks heard it.

Walkers that had been laying dormant along several streets and alleys slowly rose to their feet, migrating toward all the noise while their remaining instinct to feed drove them. The horde outside the drug store began to steadily grow in number to the point that they stood shoulder to shoulder at the front. Rotten and decaying hands pounding on the boarded up windows, pushing through the unlocked gate and hammering on the doors as well while the people inside started scrambling.

"Duck, baby time to go!" Katjaa said to her son as they started moving to the back. Carley ran to her purse and pulled out a spare clip for her gun and made sure that she was fully loaded while everyone grabbed anything useful.

"I'm gonna get the truck pulled up 'round back!" Kenny shouted out.

"Take Glenn and some gas to get it running!" Jason called after him and tossing his axe through the air that the fisherman caught. "Everyone get into the office and barricade it the best you can, when Kenny and Glenn come around start getting the hell out of here! Me, Doug and Carley will hold up the defenses while you get into place!"

A loud crunch could be heard from the door, "Shit!" Doug shouted throwing himself against it, Carley doing the same as the undead tried to break it down. "This won't last long, get moving now!"

Jason threw his shoulder into the double doors as the pounding grew in intensity. The snarls and groans from the walkers outside becoming a loud chorus as they continued their assault on the splintering entrance.

"Hay, Jason...I just wanted to let you know, if we don't make it through this. I think you're a great guy." Doug said as the doors shook violently.

"We WILL make it, Doug! So stop talking like it's already over!" the fighter shouted back as the door was hit even harder.

Carley strained against the frame, "Doug, if we don't survive. I just thought that you should know-" she was cut off when the doors were shoved open wide enough for a walker to reach its arm inside. Jason brought his arm up, the walker's teeth latching on to the magazine wrapped around his forearm and digging into the pages but not reaching his flesh as he pulled his gun out and shot it in the head. The body pitching back and knocking a couple of others over and allowing them to slam the doors shut again.

Bracing back against it, Jason saw Clementine looking on with an expression of terror. "Clem! Try to find something to help us brace the door shut! Hurry!"

"Okay!" the girl shouted as she started running around the store to look for something. One of the shelves leaning against the windows on the left of the entrance knocked over and walkers began tripping into the store. Carley jumped back, drawing her gun and putting a round through the foreheads of two walkers that came after Doug.

"Carley, keep them off us!" the fighter shouted as he and the other man continued to try and keep the entrance sealed. The doors opened again and they forced it shut while hearing the reporter's gun register again and again. "Clementine! Did you find anything?!"

The girl kept looking frantically, "No! Nothing! Oh wait!" she ran toward the office as the window on the opposite side of the other shattered, multiple arms reaching through as the boards started coming loose.

"That window's screwed!" Doug shouted.

"Go! I got this!" Jason said putting more strength into the doors, digging his heels when his feet started sliding on the floor. "FuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!" He strained as the horde continued to push into the barrier between them.

"I found something!" Clementine shouted, running over with the cane they had found in the office earlier. Her guardian grabbed it and slipped it behind him through the door handles, the hard wood of the cane successfully baring the doors and keeping the walkers at bay.

"AH! FUCK!" Doug shouted as the arms reaching around the boarded window and grabbed on to him.

"SHIT! I'M OUT! I'M OUT!" Carley screamed next, a walker on the floor grabbed her ankle. A second stumbling through the window and began to shuffle toward her.

Time slowed to a crawl as Jason looked between the two, Clementine in between them looking back and forth at they called out for help. His hand tightened on the grip of his gun, finger around the trigger as he sprung.

_Bam!_ The undead grabbing at Carley's ankle fell over with a hole drilled through the side of its head. _Bam!_ A second shot followed making the other walker drop to the floor no longer moving. The fighter ran over to Doug and grabbed him, attempting to pull him away from the decaying hands that was already holding him while using the butt of his gun to bash them with soft crunches.

The sound of wood breaking and splintering was heard as the boards finally gave way, "Ah NO! GET THEM OFF ME!"

"DOUG HANG ON!" Jason shouted, grabbing his arms as the walkers began to pull him through the window. One of the creatures sinking its teeth into his neck and tearing a large chunk of flesh away, spilling blood down the man's front as another grabbed his arm and tore into it as well.

Clementine's terrified scream barely registered as the fighter watched the man be pulled through the window. Screaming and begging as the undead pulled him to the ground and began tearing into his body like rabid animals.

"Oh my god..." Carley said horrified, covering her mouth before reloading her weapon and firing on more walkers that poured into the store.

The office door burst open, Kenny standing on the threshold axe in hand. "Let's GO!" he shouted to them as more windows and boards began shattering around them. The cane holding the doors closed finally gave and the horde outside started to flood into the store front.

Clementine yelped loudly as a walker laying prone on the floor reached out to grab her, causing her to trip as it continued to crawl after her. A gunshot from the fighter's weapon stopped it dead before it could get after his charge any more.

"CARLEY! GRAB CLEMENTINE AND GO, I'll COVER YOU!" Jason called out, firing two more rounds into the crowd of walkers. The reporter shook out of her stupor of seeing the man that had saved her being devoured, grabbing the little girl by the hand and leading her toward the office where Larry stood holding the door open.

He fired the last two rounds in the Glock's clip, the slide locking back when it ran empty. The fighter spun on his heel and bolted for the exit-

Having no time to register the large fist coming for him before it connected with the side of his face and knocking him to the floor. His vision swam a moment as Larry glared down at him, "You're not coming with us, you son of a bitch!" he bellowed before disappearing into the office and leaving the younger man to death.

Jason rolled over to his side, face burning and vision still a bit blurred as a walker reached out and grabbed him. He forced his arm up, using his makeshift armor to take the bite that was aimed for his neck. Rotten teeth digging through the pages, some of them breaking off as the monster continued to try and tear through it to reach his skin.

The rest of the horde continued to close in, the chances of escape looking slimmer by the second as the fighter tried to hold off the one still gnawing on his covered arm.

There was a flash of red as a familiar axe burrowed into the skull of the walker and stopping it cold. Looking up, Jason saw Kenny standing over him, holding his free hand out to him. "I'm not letting somebody else get eaten today. Especially a good friend." Their hands clasped, the fisherman pulling him to his feet as they ran into the office. Slamming the door behind them and throwing the nearby furniture in front of it before bolting out of the exit.

Throwing himself in the bed of the truck that was right outside the door, Jason found himself wrapped in a familiar set of small arms as Clementine burrowed into his chest. Kenny leapt into the driver's seat, engine already running as he gunned it, the truck peeling out of the alley and shooting down the street with Glenn's car right on its back bumper.

Both vehicles escaping the undead and leaving Macon in their dust.

X One Hour Later X

The Traveler's Motel was just as silent as it was before. There weren't any new walkers other than the ones that had been killed before when the now larger group pulled up and began to clean the place.

Lilly grunted softly as she tossed another corpse on top of the pile they had going, wiping her hands off on her jeans with a look of disgust. Clementine having watched her with and unreadable expression before heading over to the back end of the RV with Duck following after her.

Everyone else was spread around, either checking supplies or gaining their second wind after their harrowing escape. Jason stood at the entrance to the parking lot, looking farther up the darkened street as the sounds of gunfire and screaming echoed through the night.

His face still ached a bit, a dark-purple and black bruise already forming where Larry had punched him. But it didn't bother him, given his training and past matches back home he was used to this.

Facing the parking lot, he turned to Glenn who was standing by his car looking at the ground in deep thought. "You okay, Glenn?" he asked making the other man look up.

He held up his hand as he listened to the car radio talking about the situation happening back in Atlanta. Saying that the city was now considered a 'Stage 9 Catastrophe' and wasn't looking to be getting any better. "I think I better go..." he said partially to himself.

Those that had heard him looked in his direction. "To Atlanta?" asked the fighter to be sure that he heard right.

"Yeah." he replied with a nod. "I got friends there, and I just can't stay here knowing that they could be trapped in that city. I...I just gotta take my chances."

Jason sighed, looking over to Lilly who was about to say something. He shook his head making her pause before she could start before looking back to the delivery man. "Do what you can. Find your friends. But keep your eyes open and stay out of trouble."

Glenn smiled at him, "Thanks Jase, that means a lot. I don't mean to abandon you all, but this seems like an okay setup, and I'm sure things will be back to normal around here in no time."

The fighter couldn't find it in him to agree with his statement, but nodded regardless. "Here's to hoping."

"Stay safe," Glenn sat in the driver's seat and paused, "And Jase, you know, if this really doesn't get better, people ARE going to give up...like that girl from upstairs." he looked up at Jason who stood motionless, "Are you just going to let them? You gave her the gun."

"I did, and that's my choice to bare, Glenn." the fighter said solumnly. "There's nothing fair about this whole situation, the only thing we can do is what we can to survive and keep what's left of our humanity in tact. But with how things can get, that'll be easier said than done."

"Maybe you're right." the other man said thinking to himself. He looked back up at Jason and nodded to him, "Good luck, seeya around." he closed the door and started the car, pulling out of the parking lot and heading into the darkness.

Watching the tail-lights until they disappeared, the fighter headed back into the parking lot where the others were still taking stock.

"Close call back there, friend." Kenny said turning to him, looking at the shiner under the younger man's eye. "How's that feelin'?"

"I've had worse, trust me on that." Jason replied. "Thanks for coming back for me, I owe you one."

The fisherman shook his head, "Naw, you don't after everything you've done for us. And you were right before, we have to stick together and take care of each other out here." He looked over at Clementine and Duck, his son talking up a storm while the little girl just looked down at her shoes. "You know, there's a lot out there that could mess up a girl like her." he turned back to Jason and smiled, "But, I figured with someone like you looking after her, and her looking after herself. You two have nothing to worry about.

The fighter smiled back and patted his shoulder, "Thanks, Ken."

Kenny grinned, "You got it, Jase." He went back to checking the supplies they had managed to gather leaving the younger man to keep checking on everyone. He looked Carley's way as the reporter dug through a box on a table they had set up off to the side.

Feeling sympathy over what happened back at the store, he headed over that way to speak with her.

"How you holding up?" the reporter looked up at Jason, her face a mask of exhaustion and numbness.

"I'm okay, considering..." she trailed off, looking to the side and not meeting his gaze.

Jason nodded, "Yeah, I can understand that."

Carley looked into his face, "I can't stop thinking about what happened back there, with Doug. We couldn't have saved him...could we?" she asked as though the answer were an easy one.

The fighter blew out a slow breath through his nose. "Everything happened too fast back at the drug store. And has hard as it is to say, we can't change what has happened. All we can do is focus on what could happen next."

"I know it's stupid...we'd just met...and he was such a..." she couldn't seem to find the words to convey her thoughts. "It's just that...I think that I liked him." she finally admitted, a light dusting of her cheeks proving her statement.

Smiling, Jason answered back honestly, "I'm pretty sure that he felt the same, Carley. He was a good man, and wave brave right up to the end. You should be proud of that."

She nodded in agreement, "Thanks, that does help...a little bit. But I think I just wanna be alone right now." she turned back to her task. The fighter decided to respect her wishes and began to make his way over to Clementine to check on her as well. "Wait." He stopped and turned back to Carley who was looking at him with an imploring expression.

"Yeah?" he asked wondering what was on her mind.

"How did you choose? We both needed you...and you picked me first."

He was silent for a couple of seconds, it was something he didn't really have an answer to. "I...just reacted. I would have saved you both if I could, but the odds were against me. Call it instinct, call it a spur of the moment thing, no matter how you look at it, I did what I could with what I was given at the time."

Carley nodded slowly, "I just wish that we both could have made it..."

"Me too." Jason turned and began to walk away, the reporter looking after him with a heavy heart. The amount of pressure that he had taken on in only a couple of hours was more than what most men could have been able to take. And yet he kept pushing forward no matter what, and she found that very admirable despite what has happened.

Pushing down the hard feeling in his gut, the fighter continued on his intended path toward his charge. After everything that had happened he needed to make sure that she was okay considering what she had seen when the store became overrun. He couldn't even to begin to imagine what she was feeling at this point, but it was his responsibility to make sure that she was, at the very least, okay.

"Hay!" he stopped mid-stride. Eyes hardening and fists clenching at the voice of the one person he _really_ didn't want to listen to at that moment.

Turning a cold glare on to Larry who was leaning casually against one of the posts supporting the eave above the motel room doors, his nose the same color as the younger man's cheek with a bit of dried blood still on his upper lip.

Looking around to see the others' attention was elsewhere, he approached the veteran. His body tense as he fought down the urge to beat the man senseless. "The fuck you want?" he asked with more than enough venom in his words.

Larry didn't look the least bit threatened as he glanced over his shoulder, "You like my daughter?" he asked seemingly out of the blue.

"She's a strong, decent woman...considering her father is a muscle-bound jackass." the younger man fired back coldly. The veteran's eyes turned to ice as he stood to his full height, stepping forward to glare down at the one standing before him.

"Then you better remember this." he growled darkly, "Stay away from her. And if you do ANYTHING to threaten her life, or the life of that little girl that's with you. You'll find yourself in a position where you'll be PRAYING for the corpses to take you."

Jason narrowed his eyes, squaring his shoulders as he got right in the man's face. "The feeling's mutual you old fucker. What I said back at the store? That wasn't theatrics. If you threaten the well being of Clementine, or any of my friends like you did before. I'll be making damn FUCKING sure that you'll be nothing more than zombie-chow. Unlike some of the others, I'm someone that can, and WILL fight back."

"And this," he pointed to the bruise on his face, "Was your one free shot. Come at me again, I'll put you on the ground. No bullshit." The two glared at each other heatedly for several more seconds before Larry snorted and backed off, resuming his position against the post and leaving the situation resolved for the time being.

Shaking his head, the fighter continued his trek over to where his charge was listening to Duck continue to ramble on. "Hay Duck, take a break and hang out with your folks a minute so I can talk to Clementine." he said to the boy who nodded and headed off to be with his parents so the two could talk.

Jason kneeled down to his charge's level as she continued to look at the ground. "Hay, sweetheart. How you holding up?" he asked gently.

"I'm okay...I almost got grabbed again though." she replied finally looking up at him. "I...I tripped, and my walkie-talkie broke. Glenn still has the other one."

Jason felt sad for her, "I'm sorry, Clem."

"Thanks. I know I need to be tough, I'm just sad." his charge said back as her lips quivered and her eyes watered. "I know it doesn't make any sense, but it's how I used to talk to my mom and dad. And now they're gone. It's gone."

A pair of strong, warm arms pulled her into her guardian's chest. Holding her close as he ran his hand through her curly hair. "Shh, it's okay baby-girl. I'll help you find another one sometime soon, okay?"

She nodded, hands still fisting his shirt, "I'll just hold on to the one I have for now, to remind me." Jason continued to console her when he heard his name being called, looking up to see Lilly motioning him over.

"Let me go talk to Lilly real quick alright, I'll be right back." he said letting her go and seeing what the woman wanted.

"What's up?" he asked when they were out of earshot, not missing the not-so-subtle leer Larry was sending his way.

Lilly brushed a bit of hair behind her ear and smiled a bit, "My dad would be dead if it weren't for you. A lot of us would be." she admitted.

"Maybe, but not all of us made it." he said thinking about Doug's last moments.

"You can't be like that," she said putting a hand on his arm. "You're only one man. And we're lucky to have you here with us."

Jason smiled back at her just as a couple of loud explosions could be heard somewhere in the distance catching the attention of everyone.

"I hope that's the sound of us winning this thing." Kenny said approaching the other two.

"Me too." said Lilly, hoping.

The fisherman looked around them, "You know, this motor inn's pretty defendable. We block off the entrances with some cars and keep someone on watch and we can stay here until the military rolls through." he said as they approached one of the exits and looked out into the night.

Lilly nodded, "I actually agree with that plan."

"Same here. Better than being out in the open where we can get picked off." added Jason.

They looked down the street, still illuminated by the street lamps as Kenny spoke again. "We've got beds, we've got water and most importantly, we've got light. There are worse places to call home."

"Yeah. You're right." Lilly agreed. "You know guys, I think it's going to be alright."

Not a second later, the street lights started going out one at a time. Followed swiftly by the ones around the motor inn. Clementine ran through the parking lot and clung to Jason's side as the last of the lights went out and they were all plunged into darkness.

**A/N: And BOOM! Closed in a common Walking Dead fashion. The first chapter of the game is done, and the second one is right around the corner. I'm pretty happy with the pace right now, but I'll probably slow it down a bit to make sure that everything flows smoothly. So drop your thoughts and reviews at the door and I'll have the next chapter up soon.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Whooo...had a near scare earlier the other day. My computer had a small crash and I nearly lost everything that was on my laptop. But thankfully everything's fine and in good shape.**

**I've gotten a lot of questions since the last chapter, one of the main ones being why Jason hasn't used the 'Walker-Blood' plan to get through the horde outside the pharmacy. The answer is simple, there was no guarantee it would work. Let's face it if you guys tried that, and it didn't work, you'd be pretty fucked. Of course the chances of whether or not he'll do it in the future is still a possibility.**

**The poll has definitely taken a drastic turn as well, the new results are in;**

**Maggie: 7**

**Molly: 4**

**Carley: 3**

**Lilly (Reformed): 3**

**There's still a lot of time left to cast your vote guys, but at this rate things are looking pretty one-sided at this point. But enough about this, let's get on with it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead**

_Previously, on Fight for Survival..._

_They looked down the street, still illuminated by the street lamps as Kenny spoke again. "We've got beds, we've got water and most importantly, we've got light. There are worse places to call home."_

_"Yeah. You're right." Lilly agreed. "You know guys, I think it's going to be alright." _

_Not a second later, the street lights started going out one at a time. Followed swiftly by the ones around the motor inn. Clementine ran through the parking lot and clung to Jason's side as the last of the lights went out and they were all plunged into darkness._

**Chapter 4: Starved for Help**

X Three Months Later X

The cool autumn air breezed through the forest, the once vibrant trees and foliage now either completely bare of leaves or shrouded in various arrays of orange, red and yellow with the changing of the season.

Amongst the remaining brush, a lone walker sat hunched over the corpse of a small, woodland creature. Grey, decaying fingers ripping into the tiny, furry body and pulling out the poor creature's insides before bringing it towards its awaiting mouth.

A twig snapped behind it making it pause in mid-bite, groaning in the back of its throat as it turned to look over its shoulder to see what was behind it only for a small red blur to slam into the side of its skull and knock it to the ground. It struggled to get back up as a black, steel-toed shoe pinned it down. The individual gripping the axe in their hand a little tighter before raising it above their head and brining it down with crushing force on to its face.

Blood, rotting tissue and grey matter splattering across the ground as the monsters head was completely destroyed under the force of the blow.

Jason Harlow had changed in the last few months since arriving in this universe. The harsh and cruel world filled with the living dead had hardened him to the horrors that surrounded him on a regular basis, allowing him to put aside his emotions and make harsh decisions when they needed to be made.

He'd also changed physically. His frame had a bit more muscle packed on to it then it had before. His hair had grown out, still very short but much shaggier than before, his facial hair had also grown a bit giving him a slight five o'clock shadow.

The fighter's attire had also taken a drastic change as well. He wore a pair of cargo jeans with black knee-pads and shin guards stitched into the legs, a long-sleeve black under-armor shirt underneath a denim jacket with elbow-pads stitched into the arms. The forearms had black duct tape wrapped around them incase a walker attempted to bite him.

It was what he refered to as 'walker-armor' and only wore it when he left their little haven back at the motor and hadn't let him down so far. The multiple teeth marks already in the tape being proof that no undead had succeeded in getting to his flesh so far.

Exhaling, Jason braced his foot on the dead walker's collarbone and pulled the axe free. Flexing his fingers in the black MMA gloves he was wearing on his hands. Something he had picked up on one of his last trips through town on a supply run and going through a sporting goods store on the way out. He'd upgraded them to help him even more when he was out and about.

Having removed most of the knuckle padding and inserting two half-pound metal plates, sealing them up with a strip of duct tape, they made every punch he threw multiple times more powerful and damaging. And after testing it out, was extremely effective in close-quarters.

Turning toward what the walker was feasting on, he approached the small corpse just as another individual holding a hunting rifle came out of the woods toward him. An older man with slicked black hair with glasses wearing a black button shirt with a name patch reading 'Mark' over a white t-shirt and black jeans stepped up beside him and looked down at the unfortunate creature.

"Dammit. What'd they get this time?" the man asked.

Jason kneeled down and looked it over, shaking his head. "I think it _was _a rabbit. Fuck! Another meal gone." he cursed before getting back up and laying the axe back on his shoulder as they began to walk farther into the woods.

Mark sighed, "I can't believe that we went through all that commissary food in 3 months. It seemed like so much at the time."

"It at least got us this far. If it wasn't for you opening the door that day, we'd all be nothing but bones right now." said the fighter keeping his eyes trained on to the nearby trees incase they had company.

The other man nodded, "Yeah, I'd probably BE food by now if you guys didn't invite me in. Definitely have no regrets about sharing what I had stocked up on. But now that we're down to just the bare minimum..." he trailed off.

"We're all hungry, Mark." Jason said with a deep sigh. "We just gotta make due with what we have until we can either gather more supplies or actually manage to score something in these damn hunts we go on."

"I hear you. When I accidentally grabbed for Carley's rations the other night, I thought she was gonna take my hand off!" Mark said with a slight shiver remembering that incident vividly.

"She's on edge, hell, we all are considering. Don't hold it against her." came the reply as they stepped over a cluster of roots.

Mark nodded, "Yeah, you're probably right. I just wish I knew for sure how much food we have left."

"Enough to hold us over for another week...or less depending on how we ration it." Jason said grimly. "Especially with how Lilly's been passing it out to everyone, people are gonna go without again tonight, that much I can say for sure."

The other man cringed, "Oh, 'Lilly's Lottery' again? Kenny's gonna be pissed." he looked over at the younger man. "You think he's having any more luck than us out here?"

Jason shrugged, "Hopefully, because we're coming up pretty empty at this point." They reached the top of a small hill and looked around for anything that could be considered a meal. But nothing moved, there weren't even any sounds from animals that would usually move about the forest.

Apparently mother nature knew to avoid the walkers as well.

"You know, between the lack of food, and Kenny and Lilly at each others throats all the time, things are getting pretty tense back at the motor inn." Mark looked over at the fighter, "You know, Kenny's been talking about taking off if he can get that RV running."

"I know," Jason replied with a serious expression, "I've been helping him fix it. Clem and I are heading out with him and his family when we get the chance." This got him a shocked look from the other man.

"You can't be serious...Jase, we're all safer in a bigger group. Going out on your own like that could get you all killed."

The fighter turned his gaze on him, "Staying in one place for too long when nearly all the resources have dried up isn't much better. That, and it's only a matter of time before the walkers start pounding on our boarders in large numbers. Can't fight a horde when your starved and running low on ammo, Mark."

The man sighed after a few moments, "Can't really blame you with that logic. Well, that and Larry constantly causing trouble." He smirked as he looked at the younger man again. "Can't believe you knocked out two of his teeth two weeks ago, that was really something."

It was true, at the time the situation with the food had really caused a lot of stress in their group. After the kids were put to bed they had all gathered in the now fenced in parking lot to talk about what kind of action to take. Lilly wanted to ration everything they had, selectively choosing who would get food at certain points while Kenny thought that it would be best to not let anyone starve.

The whole thing snowballed out of control and started a huge blow up between the two like so many incidents before it. Larry stepped in after too long, standing in his daughter's corner but ultimately proving that he had little to no tact for such affairs. Bellowing about how Lilly was doing the decision making and that they should all fall in line.

Kenny didn't like that and fought back which resulted in the old veteran punching him in the jaw and knocking him to the ground. That was when Jason stepped in:

_Flashback_

_"If that's all you got packing you old fucker, then you're in a world of trouble!" Kenny shouted, getting to his feet and wiping the small amount of blood from his lip. Katjaa at his side trying to calm him down but he just glared at Larry who was cracking his knuckles._

_"You and what gay-pride parade you fucking redneck? My daughter's doing what's best for this group. If you don't like it, then take your woman and your fucking brat and take off!" he bellowed just as Jason stepped out of the room he shared with Clementine on the second floor._

_Making sure that the girl was asleep in her own bed before closing the door behind him and heading down to the parking lot before things got more out of hand. Going past Mark and Carley as they stood off to the side._

_"Dad! That's enough!" Lilly demanded._

_"Stay out of it Lilly!" Larry snapped before turning back to Kenny. "Well asshole? You gonna backup those words or are you going to puss out because your woman's standing there?" He felt someone shove his shoulder and he whirled around in time for a fist to connect hard against his face and knocking him to the ground._

_Looking up hatefully to see Jason standing over him with his fists clenched. "You son of a-" he lunged at the younger man only for him to dodge around his grasp, bringing his knee hard into his gut and grabbing his outstretched arm. The fighter twisted the limb behind the man's back and slammed his head hard into the asphalt as he pressed his heel down on the back of his neck. _

_"I. Warned. You." he hissed between clenched teeth before glaring in Lilly's direction. "Keep this fucker on a tighter leash, Lilly. Or I swear I'll put him down and toss his corpse over the wall. I understand that our rations are running low and we have to preserve what we got, but you forget that there are NINE of us including TWO children. There's gonna be friction and stress and we need to deal with this before it tears us apart."_

_"If it comes down to it I'll gladly give up my share to make sure that Clementine is fed and I can guarantee that Kenny would do the same for Duck and Katjaa. We need to put our heads together to figure this out instead of this constant bitching."_

_Larry struggled and he pressed his heel down a little harder making him grunt. "And THIS asshole isn't making things any better! Just because you THINK you're entitled to anything because Lilly's our impromptu leader don't mean jack shit. You keep pushing everyone like this, then everyone will turn on you and when that happens you'll have nothing left."_

_He released the man and stepped back, allowing him to spit out a glob of blood on to the black-top that had two small teeth in it. "I'm sick of being referee every time you guys get in a fucking pissing match. Figure it out, fix the problem, and straighten the fuck out! Or we'll all regret it in the end." Without another word he spun on his heel and stormed toward the stairs._

_"Where are you going?" Lilly called after him while her father picked himself off the ground. _

_"To bed, I'm going on a supply run tomorrow. Carley, wanna tag along?" The reporter nodded at him as he went back to the upper balcony and disappeared into his and Clementine's room. Flopping himself on his bed next to the one his charge occupied and staring at the ceiling until exhaustion finally took him._

_Flashback End_

"Larry's got a temper that will eventually lead to a problem if he doesn't get his act together. I don't feel right about cleaning his damn clock every time he tries to hurt someone else, violence isn't always an answer." Jason admitted as they started moving again.

"If he put even half that energy toward finding more food, instead of being so hostile, we'd be better off by now." said Mark. Pausing as he watched a crow fly over head and land on a tree branch a couple of meters away. "I know Lilly thinks he's getting weaker, but he's all muscle. He's practically a walking piledriver."

_"With a glass jaw."_ the fighter thought with a slight smirk as they began to stalk slowly toward the bird had perched itself. They kneeled down behind a rock while Mark took aim with the rifle only for Jason to reach out and lower the barrel. "One bird isn't worth bringing a horde down on us, man."

Mark sighed, "Yeah, I know...I'm just...really freaking hungry."

A loud yell echoed through the forest causing the lone bird to fly off. "Shit! was that Kenny?!" Mark said jumping to his feet.

The fighter was already on his feet and running in the direction the sound had come from, the other man trailing behind him, trying to keep up as the trees blurred past them. Heart hammering in his chest as he wondered if what they had heard was from their friend and if he was in trouble or not.

Axe clutched tightly in his hands while he pumped his legs, Jason slid to a stop and listened as another shout of pain pierced the air. This time much closer as they ran to the right in the general direction of where it had originated. They found the source a moment later, in the form of two teenage boys wearing white and blue Letterman's jackets with 'S.M.' imprinted on them kneeling by an older man wearing a similar outfit with his leg enclosed in a bear-trap, blood already pooling on the dirt below as he whimpered feebly.

One of the boys tied a belt tightly around the trapped man's leg to slow the bleeding as the other two approached. "Jesus Christ..." Mark muttered in slight shock.

"Oh shit!" one of the kids yelled, standing and holding his arms up next to his friend. "No...please don't kill us! We just want to help our teacher! We'll leave, I swear!" he pleaded.

Running footsteps could be heard as Kenny ran into the clearing. "Jase! Is everything okay?" he looked down at the scene before them and grimaced. "Shit."

"Get it off! Get it off, god dammit, get it off me!" the man begged while holding his wounded leg.

"Travis! Maybe these guys can help!" one of the boys said to the other.

"These might be the same guys that raided out camp and...We barely got away from that!" said Travis not taking his eyes off the other group.

"What guys? Why the fuck is there a bear-trap out here?!" Kenny wondered as Jason stepped forward.

"Look, we didn't attack you guys. But we need to find a way to get him out before it attracts..." he looked past the boys and gnashed his teeth. "Fuck."

Walkers had obviously heard the man's cries of agony and were beginning to amble into the other side of the clearing. "Dammit! Do what you can, I'll cover you!" Kenny called out bringing his own rifle to eye level.

Mark was already on his knees looking over the trap when he looked up at Jason, "This trap's been altered. There's no release latch."

"Keep the boys back! I'll think of something." the fighter said looking the device over. The whole thing was made from low carbon steel, attached to a thick chain that was wrapped around a nearby tree. There was no possible way of cutting the chain, and Mark had been right about there not being a release latch on the trap itself.

Jamming the head of the axe into the traps hinge, he put all his weight into it to try and break it open while Kenny opened fire on the coming walkers. He grunted from the exertion, but no matter how much he put into it the thing wouldn't give an inch.

He tried it from the other side but had the same result, by this point Mark had also started shooting at the undead as they began to steadily grow in number. _"FUCK! Nothing's working! Can't break it open, can't cut the chain, we'd be dead before I even put a dent in the tree holding it. That only leaves..."_ he looked down at the man's bleeding leg, his blood running cold and his stomach dropping as he realized that there was only one way to get him out of this.

"Just get me out! Please!" the man shouted over the gunfire.

Jason slowly rose to his feet, holding the axe in both hands as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do.

The trapped man seemed to catch on as well as the blood drained from his face. "...oh...god...no..."

"I'm sorry." the fighter said sadly, "But it's the only way." He didn't give the man a chance to scream as he raised the axe and brought it down blade-first on to the man's shin, slicing through flesh and cracking bone when it made contact.

The screams of pain stretched high above the trees making all in attendance, that was living anyway, to cringe harshly.

Bringing it up again, Jason swung down on to the limb even harder. Spraying blood and bone fragments from the stump he was creating and making the man's cries even louder. Trying to push it all from his mind as he brought the weapon up a third time and swung it down, completely separating the bone and only leaving a patch of muscle and flesh keeping the leg together, a crimson river flowing freely from it.

One last swing and the leg came free, the man looked down in horror at his new stump before passing out from the pain and blood loss he had suffered. "He's free, come on!" he shouted, tossing his axe to Mark who caught it as he grabbed the unconscious man and slung him over his shoulders to carry him.

Travis retched on to a nearby bush from what he had witnessed, and because of this didn't see the female walker come up behind him. "KID LOOK OUT!" Kenny shouted. The teen spun only to be grabbed by the face.

"OH NOOOOO-GUGGGGGAAAAAAHHHHGGGGG!" The creature's rotten teeth sank into the flesh of his throat, crushing his wind pipe before tearing out as it brought him to the ground where three others piled on top and began tearing his body apart.

"TRAVIS NO!" The other boy screamed as he tried to go help him, being held back by Mark.

"THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO FOR HIM! MOVE!" Jason shouted as they all began running in the opposite direction, the pursuing walkers going for the much easier meal as the survivors ran through the forest back toward their haven.

X

The Traveler's Motel had taken on some serious renovations in the last three months.

A Strongly built fence constructed out of wooden boards and debris was lined up along the front with metal posts with barbed wire stretching along between them. The two cars that had been in the parking lot when the survivors had moved in had been moved to the exits to make the openings smaller and were sealed off with heavy dumpsters so only the living could get in or out.

A couple of couches, chairs and tables were set up in the center near the RV that had its sun blind out. It was a lot of hard work setting up and maintaining their small stronghold, but it was worth it in the end for them to have a safe place to stay all this time.

Currently, the survivors were spread out on the property doing a number of things. Larry was using a rock as he hammered a couple of new boards on to the fence. Katjaa was keeping an eye on the kids. Duck drawing on a large piece of wood laid out on the ground happily. Clementine kicking a soccer ball aimlessly against an empty barrel, her baseball cap missing from its place on the top of her head as she continued about her business.

Carley was sprawled out on the couch close to the RV, arm draped over her eyes as she tried to catch some sleep after her shift of keeping watch. And Lilly was perched upon the RV's roof, rifle in hand as she survey everything around her for hostility. Gaze occasionally going to the people below that were her responsibility to look out for and smiling down at her father as he took a break from his task.

The stress of their supplies running out had been taxing on her, she really wished that things could be different, but until they got their hands on another supply of food it was going to be hard on everyone. That, and a recent check of the well that connected to the motor inn proved that their water reserves would start to run out soon.

With winter coming, all of them dressed for the occasion in one fashion or another...and things were only going to get worse if a little luck didn't come their way soon.

The sound of a twig breaking in the nearby forest made her snap to attention, rifle pressed to her shoulder and eyes down the sights as she surveyed the treeline. Slowing her breathing, the only sound being the wind around her and Clementine's ball hitting the metal barrel below, she strained her ears to pick up any more noise.

More rustling, and it was growing closer. Lilly whistled, her signal for everyone to be on alert which got everyone in motion. Dropping into cover immediately as she waited for whatever was making the disturbance showed themselves.

A moment later, Jason came shuffling out of the forest. An unconcious man with a bleeding stump for a foot slung over his shoulders while Kenny, Mark and a teenage boy came out behind him. "Get the gates open! We got a man down!" He called up to her after taking several deep breaths from his hike with the extra weight.

"Shit! What the hell are they doing?" the woman wondered as Mark helped move the dumpster they used as their 'gate' out of the way, Kenny standing guard while Carley and Katjaa helped the fighter move the man on to the property and lay him in the back of the pick up that they had left where it had been.

Everyone was talking at once, making it hard to understand what any of them were saying as Katjaa began to look over the wounded individual. "Kat, do you think you can fix him?" asked Kenny after they had put the gate back in place.

"Jesus, Ken! I...I don't know!" she exclaimed while trying to access the grevious injury.

"Jason! What the fuck! You can't just be bringing new people here! What are you thinking?!" Lilly demanded as the fighter leaned against the truck to catch his breath, Clementine right next to him checking to see if he was okay.

"Hay! You wanna calm down for a fucking minute!" Kenny shouted right back.

"No, I don't! I want to know why you thought bringing more mouths to feed was a good idea!?" the woman exclaimed, turning her attention to the fighter as he stood back upright again.

"I took his fucking leg to save his life!" he said frustrated at the situation. "Another kid that was with him was killed before we could get out, I was THINKING about making sure other people lived!"

Larry scoffed, "Well that was a stupid thing to do!"

"We are NOT responsible for every struggling survivor we come across!" Lilly shouted, pointing a finger in Jason's face. "WE have to focus on OUR group! Right here! Right now!"

Carley was about to say something when Jason got right in the other woman's face, "Is that a fact? What about with what happened to YOUR DAD back at the pharmacy?! I could have just walked away! Focused on MY GROUP and left him to fucking die on the floor! Instead I stepped up and did what I could to get him his pills, and how was I thanked? THE MOTHERFUCKER PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE AND LEFT ME FOR DEAD!"

A chilled silence blew through the group then, Lilly's eyes were wide and she leaned back from the fighter as his glared burned through her. "Don't fucking stand there all high and mighty, because I don't see YOU out there risking your fucking neck on hunting and food runs like the rest of us. And I will knock more of your fucking teeth out if you take another step old man." His glare turned on Larry who had taken a couple of steps toward him with clenched fists, freezing on the spot as memories of their last confrontation coming to mind.

The teen, Ben, looked to be getting really uncomfortable with what was going on. Trying his best to make himself as small as possible when he felt a small hand tugging on his. Looking down at Clementine, she started leading him away from the confrontation. "Come over here and see what I drew." she said softly.

"What? No, I..." he tried but eventually allowed the girl to lead him from the rest of the group.

"You know, you like to think you are the leader of this little group, but we can make our own goddamn decisions! This isn't your own personal dictatorship!" Kenny said stepping in. "And Jason's right, it was different when it was YOUR DAD, but when it's someone else we just fuck 'em?"

"Come on, you're being dramatic!" Carley stated garnering their attention. "Everything always turns into a power struggle between you two. I'm not gonna be a part of that." with that being said she stomped off leaving the rest of them.

Lilly turned back to Kenny, "Hey, I didn't ask to lead this group! Everyone was happy to have me distributing the food when there was enough to go around, but not that it's running out, suddenly I'm a goddamn Nazi!"

"ENOUGH!" Jason roared, his voice echoing off the walls around them. "Jesus FUCKING Christ! Do I have to lock you two in the room and let you beat the shit out of each other! Carley's right, this goddamn power struggle you have going on has to end!"

He turned to Lilly first, "Those guys are here now, there's no changing that. We let them stay long enough for that poor bastard to recover and we can send them on their way if we have too." he turned to Kenny, "Ken, thanks for stepping up like that. But don't let everything that happens lead to a fight between you guys. We need to stand united. If something happens and we're divided like this then we're fucked! Can either of you live with yourselves if someone died because neither of you could pull your head out of your asses?"

Silence was his answer. "I wasn't kidding last time this happened. Figure your fucking shit out and resolve the problem. We can't have this kind of stress affecting the group."

"I don't see any of you stepping up to make the hard decisions!" Larry bellowed. "My girl's got more balls than all of you combined!"

"Really?" the fighter said standing at his full height, "I see you eating alright, did you ever give up any meals in the last couple weeks so that your kid could eat?" at that moment a rough hunger pain ripped through his insides. The last time food rations had been handed out he had given most of his share to Clementine so she could have a bigger meal. It wasn't easy, and he could feel himself getting a little weaker from the lack of sustenance, but it was worth it for his charge's well being.

Larry leveled a harsh glare at him before spinning around and stomping off toward where Mark was now working on the fence. Kenny too that as the sign to leave as well leaving Jason and Lilly alone.

"You think this is so easy for me?" she asked the younger man, "Everyone's starting to hate me because I'M the one that rations the food. But NOBODY else wants to."

Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair as he calmed himself down, "Lilly, I get how that can be a strain on anyone. I never said that it was easy for you, infact I'm pretty sure I'd make similar choices in your situation. But getting in people's faces like that is a sure-fire way to get the people around you to turn on you."

He looked around the parking lot before going back to the woman, "You know what? Give me todays rations. I'll hand them out this time."

"Are you sure?" Lilly asked, a little surprised at the offer.

The fighter gave a smiled that never reached his eyes, "Lilly, I just cut a man's leg off with an axe. Nothing can be worse than that." the woman cringed at the mere thought of it before moving over to the backpack that held the rations, coming back with half an apple, two packages of cheese and crackers, and a large strip of beef jerky.

"Here...good luck." she said before heading toward the RV and moving up to the lookout perch on top. Jason looked down at the food in his hands, shoving them in his pockets as he looked around the motor inn.

_"Four pieces of food for ten hungry people...this isn't going to be easy." _he thought turning toward Katjaa as she worked on the wounded man. "Kat, is he going to be okay?" he asked as blood began dripping out of the truck's bed and on to the asphalt.

"I don't know, give me a hand for a second." she replied as he moved up to stand by her. "Apply pressure here while I try and close this." she pointed out while she worked on stitching what she could of the man's bleeding stump. The fighter put both his hands down on the leg and applied as much pressure as he could to stop the flow while she worked.

A second or two passed between them before the woman spoke again. "You know, I thought I was starting to get used to this...sewing people's injuries..." she looked his way. "How's your arm, by the way?"

Jason rolled his left shoulder, the stitches that had been in his left-bicep having been long removed after an accident during a food run over a month ago. "Was always told scars were cool." he admitted getting a light laugh out of Katjaa that quickly stopped as soon as it started.

"Cuts and bruises are one thing, but, Jason, this man has no leg!" she looked at her hands a moment, both of them coated in blood as she continued to work as best she could.

"I know I did the right thing, Kat." he said with a slight nod.

She nodded in return, "I know you did. The right thing is scary sometimes I guess." after another few seconds she turned to him again. "Well, you've done what you can. Thanks for the help."

"Do your best, that's all anyone can ask." he said before heading toward the spot where the kids were gathered. He still had another job to take care of.

X

The dull hum of the light above the sink echoed through he small bathroom. Standing over it naked from the waist up, Jason soaked a washcloth under the very small stream of water coming from the faucet before wiping the stray pieces of dirt and grime from his face and chest.

With the water running out, showers were no longer an option for the time being and they had to make due with what they had.

After removing the last traces of dirt, he took a long look in the mirror. His face had hard-lines running along it. Dark circles forming under his eyes from lack of sleep in the last couple of days, his frame was still muscled, but had lost a small amount of fat from missing a few meals. His tired eyes looked to his arm, the same one Katjaa had mentioned earlier.

A long, jagged pink line ran from the top of his shoulder to the center of his bicep, a bi-product of what had happened during a food run. It had been him, Mark and Carley at the time, going into Macon to see if they could find anything left they could use.

They'd been cornered in a small store by walkers and had no way out. With no other means of escape and time running out, the fighter made the rash decision to throw himself through a lightly boarded window, a large chunk of glass slicing his arm open but giving them a chance to get away.

It hurt like a bitch, but it had been worth it as they returned to the motor inn that night. Katjaa was able to stitch him up no problem, no bad for someone who was a veteranarian before the world went to hell.

Finishing in the bathroom, he entered his and Clementine's shared room. Grabbing his shirt from the bed and pulling it on, leaving his jacket on the coat-hook on the back of the bathroom door, he began making his way to the door leading out.

Passing out the food had been a lot more difficult than he originally thought. The first two he had given the Duck and Clementine, the third to Mark since he had been without the last couple of passings, the last he had given to Carley because she pulled an all nighter with watch duty.

Larry had been pissed, but in the end the choices were made and there was nothing anyone else could do about it. Lilly had given him a nod of appreciation, though he didn't really know if it was real or not.

Stopping to look about the room he shared with his charge, he found a few odds and ends he had managed to bring back for her scattered on her side. The picture of her folks laid on the bedside table along with the broken walkie-talkie she couldn't do away with.

He'd noticed lately that she wasn't wearing her favorite hat, when he asked her about it she had told him that it had gone missing days ago. Thinking that she may have just misplaced it somewhere on the property, he promised to help her find it when he had a chance.

Opening the door to the room, the fighter nearly ran right into Kenny who stood their with his hand raised, ready to knock. "Oh, hay man." he said stepping back as the younger man came out, closing the door behind him.

"Something wrong, Ken?" Jason asked a bit curious, "I know we ran out of rations earlier, sorry about-"

The fisherman waved him off, "It was a tough choice, but you took care of the kids in the end. That's what a real man does." he said with praise. "I just came up here to talk with you about a couple of things."

Leaning against the railing and looking over the motel, Jason nodded. "Shoot."

"The RV's almost fixed, all that work you and I have been pouring into it has done some good. Soon as we find a working carburetor and a new timing belt we can go." said Kenny. "And I was serious before about the offer for you and Clem to come with us. You've more than earned a ride with me and my family."

"Thanks man. With how things are going, we might need to pack up and go." said the fighter. He didn't want to leave this haven and expose Clementine to the dangers of being out in the open. But if they ran out of supplies and fresh water it would just mean another death sentence. "What else was on your mind?"

Kenny took a moment to think before leaning on the railing next to him, "You were right before. About me and Lilly fighting all the time, it's not good to have that kind of friction around here. But it's hard to come up with any good ideas when we're already divided like this. We need someone that just thinks of what's best for everyone and isn't afraid to stick their neck out to do what's right."

Jason snorted, "Good luck with that, Ken. Every choice made will have consequences, no matter your intentions. I can understand your point of view a lot of the time, but I can also tell where Lilly's coming from. One of the reasons why I don't pick a side most of the time."

The fisherman sighed, "You know, shit would be a lot easier if you were leader." the younger man gave him a weird look. "I'm serious. Ever since we met up at Hershel's farm you've had this way about you. You know how to fight the walkers, you can plan out an escape and a strategy on the fly, hell, you even make decisions that most folks would never consider. It's almost like you've had experience with all this before."

Feeling his stomach give a slight lurch that wasn't caused by hunger, the fighter did his best to shrug off the man's comment. "With things as tense as they are, I think attempting to throw me into the roll of leader would cause too much friction with some of us." he looked down at Lilly and Larry to prove his point.

"Besides, I'm young. Who would take someone like me seriously?"

"Most of the folks here would be behind you." the older man said honestly. "Christ, Kat and I, Duck, Carley, even Mark would all follow your lead if you decided to do something about it. And you know Clementine would be with you no matter what."

Jason leaned off the railing, hearing something like that was hard to swallow. It was already a full time job keeping a look out for Clementine, but taking responsibility for the whole group? "I just don't know." he said shaking his head.

Kenny patted his shoulder, "Just think about it, friend." Both men perked up when Katjaa called out to them, the front of her clothes covered in blood and looking a bit frantic.

Running down to the ground level, they approached the truck where the woman was looking at the man she had been trying to help with a solumn expression. "He didn't make it...did he?" asked Kenny already knowing the answer.

"He...lost too much blood." his wife admitted while facing them.

"God dammit!" Kenny muttered, "Getting sick of this shit!" he knocked a cluster of cans off a nearby table as he skulked off.

"Ken! Come back-" Jason stopped her from going after him.

"Let him cool off, Kat. It's been a pretty bad morning so far." the fighter said as the breeze around them started to kick up.

Katjaa sighed, "That man, I tried Jason. But he was never going to make it, he lost too much blood before you got him here and I couldn't stop the bleeding."

"You did your best, that's all that matters." said the younger man.

She looked over at Ben as he sat in one of the lawn chairs while the kids kept drawing. "What about him?" she wondered. Jason opened his mouth to speak when he heard the truck creak, something moving in the bed that reached out for the woman's back.

"KATJAA!" He grabbed her and shoved her out of the way as two pale hands grabbed his forearms. The dead man was hissing and growling in his face, snapping his teeth in an attempt to get at his neck.

The fighter gritted his teeth, smashing the walker's head into the side of the truck repeatedly while at the same time keeping it from getting any closer. The commotion had grabbed the attention of everyone else and they all came running as Jason managed to throw the walker out of the truck and on to the blacktop, holding it down as he kept it at bay.

Jason pulled the walker up and smashed the back of its head into the asphalt with a loud crunch, reaching out and grabbing a nearby brick and bringing it to bare before bashing it into the corpse's forehead repeatedly. Blood and grey matter splattering in all directions, some drops landing on his face as he hammered away.

It was only when the walker stopped twitching was when he stopped, throwing the blood coated brick aside and standing upright. Wiping the blood from his face as he looked at Katjaa while she was being held by Kenny and Duck. "You okay?" he asked and getting a nod in return.

"Why'd ya bring him here in the first place, asshole?!' Larry demanded as they all gathered round. "You're gonna get us all KILLED!"

"He wasn't fucking bitten when I brought him here!" Jason shouted back, "If he was I would have dealt with it then and there and not put everyone at risk!" He had a feeling he knew what it was, and if he was right...then it was possible that a few other things about this world was possible as well.

"It's not the bite..." Everyone turned to look at Ben who was looking at the ground. "It's not the bite that turns you. You come back no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to ALL of us."

A chilled silence when through the whole group.

"That's why it spread so quickly." Jason said looking at the downed walker. "It's not the biting, though it must make the situation worse. This shit is in the air...and we're all infected with it." he looked at Ben, "You've seen this before, haven't you?"

The teen nodded, "Y-Yeah. Back when we were all hiding out in a gym at the time and everybody thought we were finally safe. One of the girls, Jenny Pitcher, I guess she couldn't take it and took some pills, a lot of them. Someone went in the girls' room the next morning and..." he trailed off not wanting to remember.

"Jesus..." muttered Kenny. The rest of the group all began to think hard about this new revelation, Jason in particular as he realized that if you came back no matter what happened to you, then that meant that HE was infected now as well when he was transported to this world.

_"Need to stay focused, I knew that this was a possibility for some time now."_ he thought to himself. _"We really need to get our hands on supplies...or bail the fuck out of here or things will be getting a lot worse very soon."_

"BACK OFF!" Carley suddenly shouted, pointing her weapon outside the property making everyone jump into action. Looking over their fence and seeing two men pause in the middle of the road outside.

"Woah, lady, relax!" the taller of the two said holding up his free hand, the other holding an empty gas can. "We...we just want to know if ya'll can help us out."

"I said back off!" the reporter demanded not wanting anymore trouble for them.

Jason walked up to the fence and looked at the men, they looked harmless with no weapons on them as far as he could see. "You armed? We don't want any trouble here." he said loud enough for them to hear.

"Of course. Neither do we." said the taller man. "I'm Andy St. John, and this here's my brother Dan. We're just out looking for gasoline. Looks like you folks go the motel locked down, which is fine, but if you could spare any gas we'd be much obliged."

"Why do you need the gas?" asked Lilly.

Dan was the one that spoke up, "Our place is protected by an electric fence. Generators provide the electricity...the generators run on gas."

"Look, we own a dairy farm a few miles up the road. If ya'll be willing to lower your guns, we can talk about some kind of trade." said Andy.

"How are ya'll doin' on food? We got plenty at the dairy." asked Dan making everyone within the motor inn look to one another. Lilly looked at Jason who looked right back with serious expression, he knew what she was going to ask. Their options were very limited, and any chance they had at finding their group what they needed took priority. And they had more than enough spare gas to broker such a deal with these guys if they were honest.

"Mark, Carley and I'll will go check the place out, see if it's legit. If it's as clear as they say that it is then we'll send someone back to let you all know." he said before turning to their guests. "You've got a deal, we'll bring SOME gas to your farm. And in exchange you give us some food to bring back to our people. If all goes well, we can figure out something more."

Andy nodded, "Sounds fair. A couple of gallons should power one of our generators for a while." The fighter nodded as he turned to Clementine who had come up to stand by him.

"We won't be gone long, stay here and keep an eye out for me, okay?" he asked.

"Okay. Please, be careful." his charge said in return a little worried for him before he and the others got ready to head out.

None of them noticing the figure watching them from the treeline on the hill several meters from the motor inn's entrance. Slowly slipping into the foliage unseen as they went about their plan completely unaware.

**A/N: Bit of a cliffhanger, and a lot of my fellow gamers out there know what's coming and are wondering what's going to happen next considering what's coming. But to those that haven't, I won't spoil the story. So stick around, things are going to get pretty tense very soon and none of you are gonna wanna miss it.**

**Drop your reviews, and I'll drop the update...you know the exchange.**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ahh...Spring is finally upon us! And to celebrate the now warmer weather, I've managed to get the next installment of the fic up and ready a day ahead of schedule. I've been getting a good amount of feedback regarding the the story and where I should take it in the future. The pairing poll has also reached new heights and are as follows;**

**Maggie: 9**

**Carley: 8**

**Molly: 5**

**Lilly (Reformed): 3**

**At a certain point the poll will drop down to only the top two, and it'll be a while before I start adding any real romance portions to the story. But I may start adding build up scenes if the option presents itself at the right time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead**

**Chapter 5: A New Haven?**

"So, this dairy...you guys really have food?" Mark asked as the group of six made their way down a long stretch of dirt road through the woods toward the St. John farm. Jason stood behind the group with Carley while Mark and surprisingly Ben who wanted to tag along walked with the two brothers along the path.

"Sure do." replied Andy. "We've lost most of the cattle, but we still have lots of milk, butter and cheese stocked up."

"And with the vegitables we grow, we've got plenty of food." added Dan as they continued along.

While the others conversed, Carley turned to Jason. "It feels good to get out of that motel for a while. The whole Kenny/Lilly thing is starting to get a bit out of hand. Personally I'd feel safer if you took charge more."

The fighter nodded, "Kenny said roughly the same thing earlier. You really think I can take charge with everyone back there?"

"Sure. Everyone looks up to you a lot more than you think they do. It was your quick thinking that got us out of a lot of trouble since all this started. A couple of us even owe you our lives in one way or another." said the reporter. "You're young, but that doesn't take away the fact that you're good with this kind of thing."

They lapsed into silence, just the breeze around them and the crunching of dirt and rocks under their feet being the only sounds. "I don't think the whole group would be happy with me running things, to be honest." Jason said after a few moments.

Carley nodded, "Yeah, can't believe Larry tried to leave you behind like that." she smiled at him, "Seeing you knock him down a few pegs verbally, and physically, is actually pretty reassuring a lot of the time. Wish everyone could have you're resilience."

"It's as much a gift as it is a curse, Carls." the fighter admitted. "I can't afford to let my emotions take control in those high tension situations. Because at the end of the day, it isn't about me or what I feel. It's about keeping everyone alive, keeping _Clementine_ alive."

The reporter gave him a warm look, "You really care about her, don't you?"

Jason nodded with a small smile of his own, "I'm not her family, just some guy that found her alone. But she trusts me, she looks up to me, I can't let her down. She's given me something to fight for in this fucked up world we live in, and until the day comes when I'm taken down I'll keep fighting until I have nothing left. And it's gonna be a long time before that happens."

"Sounds like a lonely job." said Carley looking forward again.

"It can be, but I push on. Hell, for all I know a future Mrs. Harlow is out there still waiting for me." he replied with a slight smirk. The woman smiled to herself and remained silent as they walked a little faster and rejoined the others.

"But thank god Jason showed up when he did." Mark said finishing his last statement.

"Yeah, why don't you tell us a little more about yourself, Jason?" Andy asked looking back at the younger man.

"Where ya from?" asked Dan.

"Chicago. Came down here to Georgia for vacation when everything started falling apart." he answered casually. Lying about his so called 'past' had become like second nature at this point. But it was certainly a lot better then telling them how he REALLY ended up outside of Atlanta.

"Right down to the good 'ole south huh? Good choice for a trip considerin'." replied Andy. "Y'all seem pretty settled in at that motor inn. Who's running things over there?"

_"Asking an aweful lot of questions, aren't we?"_ the fighter mused to himself but answered anyway. "We work as a group, everyone looks out for one another and watch each other's backs if it's needed."

Andy nodded, "I hear that. There are so many dumbasses out here fighting each other these days. It's just stupid.

The younger St. John looked over to Jason next, "How many people ya got over there anyway?"

That caused a couple of warning bells to go off in his head. No one would normally ask something like that unless it was for a specific purpose. "More than enough to defend ourselves if someone should start anything." he replied with a slight edge in his tone. Letting the brothers know not to dig too far into something they shouldn't be asking.

"Well, we'd love to get ya all out to the dairy." Andy said changing the subject. "Like I said before, we got plenty of food, and quite frankly, we could always use an extra helping hand."

Ben perked up, "In the summers, I used to help out on a goat farm."

"Yeah, that's great." said Dan. "Everythin' helps."

"Momma's been running the dairy for as long as I can remember, but now it's gettin-"

"-You think you're gonna cut me out of this?!" another voice from somewhere closeby cut off the older St. John. The group stopped in their tracks, dropping low to the ground before moving slowly into the trees, hiding in the tall grass and behind wide trunks as they observed two men wearing masks fighting with each other on the road paralell to theirs.

"No one's trying to cut you out of anything!" the other man shouted at the first.

"Fuckin' bandits." Dan muttered as Mark brought his rifle to bare and Carley drew her pistol.

"Those look like the people that raided my camp." said Ben keeping low to the ground while the two masked men continued to be at each other's throats. The group stayed silent and watched the altercation until the one that started it exploded.

"FUCK YOU!" he kicked the other man to the ground, raising his shotgun and blasting him in the chest. "FUCK! YOU! FUCK! YOU!" Each word punctured with another blast from the weapon that turned the other bandit's insides into a bloody mash.

"Jesus..." Carley gasped at the brutality happening before them. When the gun seemed to run empty, the enraged bandit turned on his heel and stomped off, muttering 'asshole' under his breath as he left the area.

"The world out here has gone to shit." Andy said shaking his head, "Come on, let's get to the dairy farm where it's safe." Nobody needed to be told twice and got up to move. Jason cast one last glance toward the dead man before following after the others.

_"I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this..."_

X

The rest of the trip was uneventful, but the event they all had witnessed had left a bad feeling in the pit of their stomachs as they entered the property that belonged to the St. Johns'.

Looking at the wide open fields and fenced in enclosures, Jason was immediately reminded of the Greene farm. Memories of Hershel and his family from those months ago coming back to him, especially that of Maggie. The farmer's daughter having made several appearences in his thoughts and dreams every once in a while which had been distracting.

At first he played it off as some kind of mechanism to handle what was going on. But after a while that didn't seem to hold much merrit anymore.

Shaking his head, the fighter looked up as Andy spoke. "Here it is, the St. John's dairy." he said with pride as they walked past several outfitted fences wrapped in barbed wire with smaller wires running along them and toward the two-story home on the small hill ahead of them. "Ya'll can see how we've kept this place so safe." he continued motioning to the fences that gave off an electric hum as they moved by them.

"The fence keeps them out?" asked Mark.

"You betcha. They fry like bugs in a zapper." replied the older St. John. "We're pushing 4,000 volts through that thing, with generators and amps."

"I'm gonna assume that's a lot." commented Carley.

"It is one hell of a set up you guys have." Jason said looking around the property. He was beyond impressed, the defense seemed to work for the most part, and there was more than enough to grow crops and store anything anyone would need. "The whole place seems untouched, like nothing outside has come in and damaged it."

"It suits us just fine." said Andy. "And it's worth protecting, hence all the juice." The screen door to the house closed making them look up to see a middle-aged woman with red hair coming down the wooden steps toward them.

"I thought I saw ya'll with company comin' down the drive!" she said warmly, her southern accent heavy.

Andy smiled before turning to them, "Guys, this is our mama." he introduced.

The woman smiled even wider, "I'm Brenda St. John and welcome to the St. John Dairy."

"This is Jason, he's from Chicago." her eldest son said motioning to the fighter.

"Chicago, huh? Big city boy come out to the country for a nice change of scenery I bet. Aweful long way from home for ya though, darlin'" Brenda said not losing her charm.

_"You have no idea."_ Jason thought to himself. "It was nice, before everything went bad out in the world." he admitted getting a sad nod from the woman.

Dan turned to her next, "They've also got a few more friends staying at the old motel."

"Oh my goodness, that place is pretty vulnerable." the martiarch stated. "Have you got someone with survival experience to lead your group?"

"We all work together, even got a couple of people with military experience." said Carley, "But Jason here's got the survival instincts, it's gotten us out of more than enough tight spots." He shot her a look and she just smiled back at him as Brenda spoke again.

"Well, that's good to hear. That motel ain't the safest place." she smiled again, "Now that y'all are here, we'll make sure you're safe and comfortable."

"Does that go for the rest of the people in our group?" asked the fighter to make sure that everyone would be taken care of.

"Our food stores are starting to really run low, we're really hungry." added Mark.

Brenda held up the basket that she had been carrying, filled to the top with bisquets. "These are for ya'll. Baked fresh this morning."

"Amazing!" Carley said in ellation as each of them took one and tried them. For people who hadn't eaten much in the last week or so, it was like heaven to them when the flakey pasteries made contact with their taste buds.

"Can't get stuff like that anymore, not without a cow for milk and butter, that's for sure." said Dan.

"That's right." added Brenda. "Hopefully Maybelle will make it through this bout of whatever she's got and be with us for a good-long while." she looked over at the nearby barn where the cow must have been kept.

"We have a vet with us!" Mark said thinking of Katjaa, "We could bring her here! We can help you folks out."

That brought of even wider smile to the matriarch's face. "A vet! Oh, my! Our prayers have been answered!"

"Maybe our whole group could come!-" Mark was shoved a bit and turned to see Jason glaring at him pointedly. Portraying a hidden message that he got instantly. "...for the day at least." he said fixing his error.

"Well how bout this, ya'll go get your veterinary friend, and I'll prepare some dinner. A big feast for all you hungry souls." offered Brenda. "It'll be nice to have some folks to help out around here again."

Jason nodded to her, "Sounds fair, I'll send a couple of us back to get the others and Mark and I will see what we can do around here."

Brenda turned to her youngest, "Danny, why don't you come help me out in the kitchen." the two made their way toward the house as the fighter turned to his group.

"Carley, you and Ben take the food back to the group and round them up for the trip back here. Mark and I will stay put and check this place out a little more. Don't go making any assumptions until we're sure that this place is locked down."

The reporter nodded while accepting the hunting rifle when Mark handed it to her. "Good luck you guys, take care of yourselves." The two set off back down the road they came up on, the two men watching their backs as they disappeared into the distance.

"Jason, Mark, why don't ya take a look around. Once ya get settled in, I could use some help securin' the perimeter." said Andy.

"Is there a problem with the fences?" asked the fighter, wondering if this little haven was as secure as they made them believe.

"Nothing like that. Sometimes, the dead get tangled up in the fence before they fry and end up knocking over a post. It'd be a big help if you two could walk the perimeter and make sure everything was set up properly. You can learn a lil somethin' about our fence. I'm gonna go top off the generators before they run dry. Come get me when you're ready."

When the farmer was out of hearing range, Mark turned to Jason. "This place is INCREDIBLE! It's got food! And that fence...oh man that fence! If we play our cards right, this might turn out to be a place we can stay..." he trailed off when he saw the look Jason was shooting his way. "...what?"

"You seem dead set on getting our people here when we just met these guys. We can't just openly trust people like that, Mark. There are too many factors that we don't know about." he said tensely while his gaze swept over the farm.

"Come on, Jason. This place is perfect for us. A lot better than the motor inn, and no one has to leave." Mark offered.

The fighter wasn't convinced. Ever since stepping foot on the property he had this rotten feeling in the pit of his stomach. Unlike Hershel's farm which had a warm and inviting feeling to it, this place felt...cold to him. The St. Johns came off as warm and inviting people, but there was something about them that seemed very off, like they were too eager to have them all there.

He couldn't explain it, like an instinct telling him that something wasn't right. _"Maybe I'm just being paranoid. But it's better to be safe than sorry."_ "Come on, let's go check out that fence before the others get here. Make sure this place is as secure as they say before we even think about staying here."

The other man nodded in agreement as they began checking out everything on the farm.

X

After spending a good amount of time looking around and talking with the family, Jason and Mark found themselves walking around the outer fence of the property looking for anything that could be out of the ordinary.

It was an even more elaborate set up then they were first led to believe. Every fence had a generator connected to it with enough wires and amps to pump electricity through them. 4,000 volts zapping through a walker was a sure fire way to fry them from the inside out like an oversized bug-zapper.

Andy had said it was the only kind of entertainment around here anymore with the way things are at the moment.

Jason kept his guard up as he questioned Andy, Brenda and Dan, the same feeling from before hadn't left him and he was always taught to trust his instincts when something didn't seem right. Some of the answers they gave were a little unsettling, they were cryptic about what had happened to about half their staff when the others fled to find their families.

They had also mentioned something about others coming around here, staying a while and making deals before going on their way. It made him wonder, and in this particular universe you needed to stay on your toes when dealing with people you barely met in the off chance they turned on you at one point.

Focusing on the task at hand, the fighter walked along the perimeter with an axe in hand that he had borrowed from the St. Johns' tool shed incase they needed it.

"So how's the place looking?" asked Mark. "Is it safe enough for us to stay...if we can?"

"Seems alright with what they've done with it." Jason said as he kept his eyes open. "But let's see what it takes to secure the fence before we go making any rash decisions."

"I can't wait until everyone's out here. Well...everyone besides Larry that is." the other man looked over at his partner who had this look of concentration on his face. "Jase? What's up, man? You've been beyond tense since we got here."

The fighter sighed, "I don't know. Just a bad feeling I guess..." he looked up and saw a fried walker hung over the top of the fence, an arrow stabbed through the side of its neck and pinning it to the post.

"There's one." Mark said as they approached it, taking not of its charred form as it dangled there unmoving. "Eeugh." he groaned while Jason kicked it to be sure that it was really dead.

Satisifed, he grabbed the arrow that was pinning it and pulled it free. Looking over at a nearby light bulb that was hooked to another post, Andy had told them that if the bulbs were on it meant the fence was active. Seeing that it was off, he raised his foot and kicked the walker off of the fence sending it to the ground with a dull thud.

"Come on, let's see if there's any more." he said as they continued their check.

"Once this fence is patched up, this place'll be a fortress!" Mark said after a minute. "God, can you imagine not having to worry about the walkers anymore?"

Jason shrugged, "It still needs gas. It's useless when the St. Johns run out and there aren't anymore places to get it." he said honestly.

Looking toward the younger man, Mark furrowed his brow. Thinking back to what he had said a moment ago about having a bad feeling. "What's your take on the brothers? They seem to have this place tied down pretty well."

"Can't say for sure. But it ties in to that bad feeling I've been having." he stopped making the other man do the same. "Mark, if there's one thing I've learned since everything went to shit, it's that you should never take things at face value. There are people out there who will act like your friend to get what they want, and when they do and you're no longer useful..."

He shook his head, "Call me paranoid. But too much has happened for us to not take caution in a situation like this. And we have too much riding on our decision to be taken in by a few perks like that."

Mark nodded seriously, understanding exactly where the fighter was coming from. "I get what you're saying. Just know that I've got your back if anything goes down." Jason nodded his thanks as they started moving again, finding another walker leaning heavily on the fence and causing it to bow inward.

Using the axe to push the dead creature off, Jason brought it to bare when he found that its hands were still clenching on to the top wire. "Fence burned through the flesh so bad that its fused to the wire." he muttered before bringing the blade down on the first hand and severing it. A second shot had the body collapsing to the ground.

"Ya never get used to the smell, do ya?" asked Mark wrinkling his nose.

"Not really, but after a while it doesn't bother you nearly as much." came the reply as they walked on, leaving the severed hands grasping the fence.

"Christ, I can't stop thinking about dinner." Mark looked at his partner, "Thanks for the rations earlier. It's not easy eating in front of those that didn't get any, but it's all that's keeping me going right now."

"Just do what you can with what you have, we can ask for more when we get back after this." said the fighter as they passed a wooden gate that led to the outside of the property where a small silo was set up. An old tractor sat a few meters away along the dirt path that ran along the fence.

Here they found a third walker laying over the fence pinning it to the ground. A couple other walkers laid dead in the dirt path outside meaning they had located a spot where the creatures could get into the farm.

"I think we can get better leverage from the outside." Mark said as they climbed over the downed fence. Jason laid the axe off to the side as they each grabbed a downed post and pushed them back into place.

Just as the posts were set up right, all the bulbs suddenly lit up bright. The dead walker began shaking as the electric current began frying its already charred body. "Holy fuck!" Mark shouted backing away as sparks shot out. "What the hell just happened?!"

"Don't know, just get clear!" Jason called back as they got a safe distance away.

The older man looked his way, "Why the hell would he turn the fence on?! He knows we're out here!" The fighter went to answer him when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked out into the woods and made out several forms moving about the trees, some of them taking up positions which cause his eyes to widen.

"MARK GET DOWN!" he shouted grabbing the man and pulling him to the ground just as three arrows flew past where he had been standing.

"I told you what would happen you son of a bitch!" someone called out from the forest as more arrows and a few gunshots zipped through the air. Jason and Mark dragged themselves along the ground and took cover behind the nearby tractor as the rounds pinged off the other side.

"JESUS!" Mark shouted as an arrow ricocheted off the top of the vehicle. "Who the fuck are these guys?!"

"We had an agreement! Now you're FUCKED!" shouted another attacker as they kept up the assault.

Jason looked over the tractor only to duck down when a stray round clipped close to his head. "Fuck, these guys aren't playing around." He looked around and quickly assessed the situation, the gate in the fence was their only means of escape, but if they made a run for it they'd be dead before they made it five steps. Looking to the tractor they had taken refuge behind he formed an idea.

"That gate is our only way out!" he pointed to the front wheels behind Mark, "Move those blocks, I'll detach the bailer connected on the other end, we'll use the tractor as mobile cover to help us get that far."

Nodding, the older man leaned out and quickly pulled the stopping blocks keeping the farm vehicle in place. At the same time, Jason moved to the back tire, reaching out and grasping the handle that kept the bailer attached.

An arrow zinged past, slicing a cut into the side of his face making him recoil and duck back into cover before another could connect. "I see ya you piece of shit!" said the shooter as more arrows and a few bullets bounced off the metal.

Feeling warmth drip down his cheek, Jason steeled himself as he leaned out again. Grabbing the handle and pulling it up before going back into cover. With the tractor now loose, it began to slowly creep along the dirt path toward the silo, the two men keeping low to the ground and following after it as the rounds and bolts continued raining down around them.

Their attackers kept moving along the trees, shouting out to them and firing on their cover while it moved. "Did you really think you can fuck with us!" one exclaimed as rifle fire could be heard followed by the loud ringing when the rounds peppered the tractor.

When they reached the half-way point their cover suddenly stopped, "Fuck." Jason looked down and found the front wheels hung up on a dead walker. "We've gotta move this guy, keep an eye out for me." he moved up and grabbed the corpse's arms and began to pull. The undead was a little heavier then he had expected, but he had managed to get it out of the way enough for the tractor to start rolling again.

The fighter moved quickly back into cover as more bolts flew past him. Moving along the path until the tractor was stopped again. "Another one?! How many of these things were laying out here?!" Mark growled as their cover continued to take hits.

"Just help me move it, we're almost there!' Jason shouted back as they each grabbed an arm and started to pull.

The walker rolled over and suddenly sprang to life. Decaying fingers gripping their wrists and trying to pull them down to its awaiting mouth. "Shit!" Jason raised his foot and brought his heel down hard on the creature's head, doing so a second and third time while they kept pulling.

There was a loud crunch, followed by the sound of tearing as the walker was literally torn in half. Intestines stretching as the duo moved the upper half out of the way, slamming both of their feet down on its head and crushing the skull to make sure it stayed down as they moved the rest of the way toward the gate.

It didn't take very long, the tractor connected with the front of the silo. "Mark move!" the fighter called out as they made a break of the gate, kicking it open and fleeing toward the farm house and leaving their attackers behind them.

"You lucky sons of bitches! Go ahead and run! We ain't goin' nowhere!" shouted someone from the trees.

"Just what the fuck was all that about?!" Mark shouted as the two of them ran throught he fields as fast as their legs could take them. "Didn't they say that this place was safe?"

Jason nodded, "They did, and I'm gonna have a long talk with those guys when we see them." he growled as they entered through the inner fences.

Andy had just come out of the barn when he saw the two running toward the house as though the devil were after them, seeing the blood oozing down the side of the fighter's face he got worried and ran over to them. "Jason? What's wrong?"

"I thought you said this fucking place was safe!" the younger man demanded, throwing one of the arrows that had been shot at them at the man's feet. "There was a bunch of assholes out in the woods taking pot-shots at us! You call THAT safety?!"

Picking up the arrow, Andy's face darkened, "Fuckin' bandits! They have no right being out here on our property!"

"Oh, my lord! What happened?" asked Brenda as she and Dan came out of the house from all the commotion.

"It was those bastards in the woods, mama..." Andy said, trailing off just as the group from the motor in, minus Carley and Ben, came up the drive.

"Jase, Christ what happened?" Kenny asked seeing gash and the blood caked on the side of his friend's face. Clementine saw this as well and ran over to her guardian.

"I'm alright, a bunch of bandits out in the forest took some shots at me and Mark when we were checking out the perimeter. We got lucky and managed to get away before either of us took anything worse." he replied wiping the back of his shirt-sleeve on his cheek, only for more crimson liquid to replace what he had taken away.

"They gave us a lot of problems in the beginning," said Andy. "Killed a bunch of our farm hands. We were able to get 'em to stop by makin' a deal."

Jason felt his anger spike as Clementine hugged his side, "But you KNEW about this! You promised us a safe place, you should have told us you made deals with goddamn scumbags like that!"

Dan held up his hands, "Food for protection. Not like we had much of a choice, but they did stop hasslin' us...until now that is."

"God dammit! Carley said this place was locked down tight!" Larry growled.

The fighter breathed out slowly, "I told her not to make assumptions until we were sure." he then looked at the St. Johns, "And right now I'm starting to think that this place isn't any safer than our current location."

"Listen, we may have had an agreement with those people, but we will NOT stand for this shit." said the older brother seriously.

"Ain't no way we're gonna let those sons o' bitches get away with this!" added Dan.

"You know where these assholes are?" asked Kenny ready for a fight.

Dan nodded, "They're hard to pin down, but I think I know where at least ONE of their camps are."

Jason looked around the property, at all the trees and foliage that surrounded the entire place and wondered if the bandits that attacked him and Mark were still roaming around. _"We can't risk going back to the motor inn right now, not with the possibility of those assholes still out there laying in wait. We'd be sitting ducks." _

"So what should we do?" asked Mark as the others gathered around.

"Are you sure you know where one of those camps are?" the fighter asked giving Dan a critical look.

"Without a doubt." said the farmer. "Just let us know what you wanna do and we'll be ready." with that the brothers went back up to the house followed by their mother leaving the group to themselves.

"We can't stay here." Lilly said cutting in. "With those bandits out there it isn't safe for any of us."

"Not safe?!" Kenny asked scrutinizingly. "This place is a hell of a lot safer than that motor inn! I think all of us and our guns can handle a couple of punks with bows and arrows."

"They've got guns too, Ken." Jason mentioned getting attention back on him. "As for the security of this place I'm not completely sure on it. But going back now would be a bad thing, those guys could be laying in wait for someone. So for the time being we'll stick around and wait for the coast to clear before making a break for home."

"Cool your jets there, Rambo." Larry said as calmly as he was able. "These here are good people, lets take it easy around here before they decide to throw us out before we eat."

He had to admit that he agreed with Larry on that one, even though the outside was sketchy the interior seemed better defended in comparison. Their people would be safe for the time being while they figured out what to do next.

"Alright, I'm going to head out with Dan and deal with the bandits." the fighter started explaining. "In the mean time you guys poke around here and make friends with Andy and Brenda. See what else you can figure out before we plan our next move." he looked at everyone before glancing at Lilly, "Where's Ben and Carley?"

"Since they ate some of the food on the way back to get us, they decided to stay behind and watch the motor in until we get back." replied the woman as Andy came back over to them.

"Hay kids, look what Jason got working for ya." he said pointing to a small swing that was set up under the tree closest to the house.

Both kids grinned from ear to ear, "A swing! I love swings! Just like at my treehouse! Come on, Duck!" Clementine said happily as they ran off to have fun. "Thanks Jason! You're the best!" the girl called over her shoulder bringing a smile to the fighter's face at her happiness. He saw the older St. John send a subtle wink his way before heading off to speak with his brother again.

The rest of the group split off in different directions, Kenny, Katjaa and Jason went over to check on the kids while Lilly and her father went over to the gazibo by the barn. Mark went off to check over the barn itself, glancing the fighter's way and giving him a nod.

"Something's on you're mind, isn't it?" the fisherman asked recognizing the look on the younger man's face as they watched the kids enjoy themselves.

"Something doesn't feel right about this place, Kenny." he said in all seriousness. "I can feel it in my bones, but I have no way of proving it just yet."

Katjaa had dug through the fanny pack she was wearing, taking out a clean cloth and some bandages as she started treating the cut on the young man's face. "What kind of feeling are you having?" she asked more than a little curious.

Wincing when she finished cleaning the wound, Jason looked toward the farm house. "Like an instinct screaming in the back of my head. Ever since we got here it's felt like there's something off. And the way they've been acting since we got here, they seem okay and inviting, but I've learned to look underneath the surface since all this began. I think they might be hiding something."

Kenny scratched at his chin, "I don't know man, I mean, your instincts haven't led us wrong before. But this place doesn't seem to be all that bad. You and Mark were just attacked by a bunch of punks for Christ's sake, that would put anyone on edge."

"Maybe. But I can remember an old saying; 'if it's too good to be true, it probably is'." the fighter looked up and pasued as his charge came over to them.

"Jason, can you come push me on the swing? Please?" she asked with wide, innocent eyes.

Sighing, Jason smiled after Katjaa finished bandaging his face and stood up to walk the girl over to the swing. Standing behind Clementine before gently pushing the ropes and causing her to sway back and forth.

"How are you holding up, sweetheart?" he asked after a few moments.

"I'm okay I guess. Are you okay? That cut on your face looks like it hurt." she asked right back a little concerned.

"It doesn't hurt that bad. I'm mostly worried about everyone else at the moment." the fighter replied.

"Are you going to find the people who tried to hurt you and Mark?"

Jason nodded, "Yeah, we can't let them hurt anyone else. And as long as they're out and about we all could be in danger."

She looked over her shoulder at him, "Please be careful. I don't want anything else to happen to you."

"Ever since you and I met, I've had a lot of good luck Clem. So no worries about that." He looked at the farm around them, "What do you think of the dairy?"

"It's pretty. It reminds me of how things used to look before." said Clementine.

He nodded, "Yeah, it kinda does."

"Do you think things will ever get back to how they were?" she asked.

It was a loaded question, one that could instill or destroy any hope his young charge had in the world and how things would turn out in the future. "It's hard to say, but things can't be all bad forever. Someday things could go back to normal." he said with honesty.

Clementine nodded, "That's good. I hope it's soon."

"Me too, baby-girl." he muttered before changing the subject. "We should be safe here for the time being, after we're sure that its all clear we can head back to the motor inn."

"Will you stop any bad people from getting me?" his charge asked as the swing stopped moving.

"Of course. I made a promise didn't I?" he said with a smile and getting a giggle out of the girl. "I think we should let Duck have a turn. I gotta be heading out soon anyway."

The young girl nodded, "You'll come back though, right?"

Jason grinned, "It'll take a lot more than a couple of jerks in the woods to keep me away. Just hang out with Duck and his family until I get back, okay?" His charge smiled as Kenny and Duck came up to have a go at the swing. The two men shared a knowing look before the fighter went over to the gate leading up to the house. Stepping through it and heading up the steps while the St. Johns brothers spoke on the porch.

"Jason," Andy said turning to him. "I'm real sorry you and your friend almost got killed out there. We should have told you how dangerous it was."

"No kidding." he said sacastically. "You can't expect us to be making any kind of deals if you aren't up front with us. We have a good number of people in our group, KIDS, we can't afford to not know something like this."

Dan nodded, "We understand. And you saw what they did out there, what they were TRYING to do. Nobody's safe here until we start to fight back."

"None of us are up for getting into some kind of war either." Jason said stiffly, "But you're right about no one being safe. They can just as easily attack our home as well. So checking out their camps would definitely be a good place to start."

"Was thinking the exact same thing." said the younger St. John. "We recon the place, then mount up for some well deserved revenge."

The fighter picked up the subtle, dark hints in the man's tone and filed that away for the time being. "Who are these bandits anyway? Where did they come from?"

"We don't know." Andy said with a shrug. "We think some of 'em used to work at the big box up the way."

"Save Lots." said his brother, correcting him.

"Yeah. Anyway, they're nutty as hell. And get mad when they're hungry."

Dan turned to the fighter, "So, are ya ready to head out there and find their camp?"

Looking back toward where Clementine was sitting down and talking with Katjaa, Jason looked back at the brothers and nodded, "Yeah. It'll give us a good chance to figure out what these guys are after and how many they have on their side. So let's get to it."

Nodding, the younger brother approached a nearby chair and produced two 30-30 rifles. Handing one to Jason while making sure the one he had was loaded. "We're just doin' reconnaissance for now, but better to be safe than sorry when we get out there."

"I'll hold down the fort while ya'll are gone. Good luck." said Andy as the two made their way toward the farm's entrance.

Jason paused and looked up to see Clementine coming over to them. "Are you leaving now?" she asked looking at the gun in his hand.

"Yeah, but we'll be back soon." he replied gently.

She looked up into his eyes, "Please be lucky."

The fighter smiled, "I will be." with that they began making their trek toward the forest. Clementine watched them carefully as they slipped out of sight. Praying with all her little heart that they would come back alive and well.

**A/N: More changes abound, and there are many more where they came from. And there will be a great amount of suspense in the next chapter (For those that have seen and played this far...you'll know exactly how things are about to get very soon).**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hay guys, been a while huh? Life's been kinda hectic in the last week and I've been indisposed, and with my girl getting farther and farther along in her pregnancy it takes priority for me. Though she's enjoying seeing this particular story progress and likes reading it every now and again. Even throwing her own ideas in every once and a while. **

**She's also thrown her own vote into the poll, and a few others have changed their votes. The new results are in; **

**Carley: 11**

**Maggie: 10**

**Molly: 3**

**Lilly (Reformed): 3**

**If you guys have anymore votes to cast in, you better get them in now. Because with the way things are looking a possible pairing will be started in the chapter after this one. But for the time being, here's one a lot of you have been looking forward to!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead**

**Chapter 6: Dinner Time**

The woods were almost completely silent as Jason and Dan picked their way through the underbrush. Making their way toward where the younger St. John believed the bandit camp he had mentioned was located.

It had been almost fifteen minutes since they had left the dairy, and each step caused the already unsettling feeling in Jason's gut to amplify. He still couldn't place where it was coming from or why, but he had managed to keep it to himself the entire time he had been out here alone with Dan.

But at he same time, he kept the farmer within his field of vision. Making sure he didn't get behind him as they moved. There may have been an agreement made between the two groups, but along with the feeling, something was telling him not to fully trust the man or his family.

"See anything?" Dan asked as they stepped through a cluster of bushes.

"Nothing yet." Jason replied, tightening his grip on the rifle in his hands as they went farther into the forest. A few birds flew away in the branches above as they made their approach.

"I know it's around here. It's gotta be close." the farmer said lowly, stopping when the fighter knelt down and observed an empty soup can that was laying on the ground. "Very close." he added as they started walking again.

Jason stepped toward a small opening in the treeline, peering around a tree when he located a couple of tents and tables set up no more then 20 meters ahead. "Over here." he called out softly.

Dan joined him and smirked. "Oh shit. You found it." he said as they observed the camp site. Nothing could be seen from where they were standing, so they crouched down low and moved along the brush to get a closer look.

Keeping his breath steady, the fighter crept behind a couple of trees, leaning out with his rifle at the ready now that he had a much clearer view of where the bandits had been setting up shop. The crosshairs before his eye moved along the site, but still nothing moved within the perimeter. _"Are they not here?"_ he wondered looking over at Dan who sent the same questioning look right back.

Lowering the gun. Jason moved forward a little more. Getting behind another tree that was right outside where a table littered with boxes and cans was set up. Leaning out of cover and looking over the camp site again, along with the surrounding area, he was able to pick up that the place was indeed devoid of anything living.

"Place looks empty." he whispered to Dan who was behind the tree next to him.

The farmer moved out from behind his cover and entered the camp, eyes scanning left and right as he approached the closed tent on the opposite side. "Watch my back, Jason. I'm gonna check out that tent."

Hanging back, the younger man kept his rifle braced against his shoulder as he looked for anything that seemed out of the ordinary while Dan stopped in front of the tent. Barrel of his rifle leading, he pulled back the flap, his body tense as he prepared to shoot.

After a moment he relaxed, "Clear." he said over his shoulder as Jason entered the camp as well. "This camp's too small. It can't be their main base."

"Probably an outpost or something. A place where they can watch people away from where they're really held up." offered Jason as he looked at all the empty food boxes and cans sprawled out on the table next to him.

Dan shrugged, "Maybe. Have a look around, there's probably some shit around here they stole from us." he said with a light growl in his tone.

Nodding, Jason began to pick through the various containers that were scattered around the site. But considering the way things were looking, the chances of finding anything useful was on the very slim side.

All the cans looked like someone had been eating out of them recently. A kettle of water was boiling over a low fire in the center of everything but had nothing else in it. And the tent had two sleeping bags, one of them was meant for a kid according to Dan. _"This doesn't feel like a bandit camp."_ he thought thinking back to how the assholes had acted when they saw the two fighting on the way to the farm, and then the ones that attacked him and Mark.

"What's in the boxes?" asked the farmer as he started looking as well.

"Nothing, they all say Save Lots on the sides though. Looks like they were trying to move a lot of stuff from that place." replied Jason.

Dan nodded, "The first few days, they told folks to gather to the Save Lots by the interstate. Is there anything worth taking?"

"Not a damn thing. Whoever was here picked this place clean." The fighter moved a couple of boxes around on a table set up under a tarp and narrowed his eyes. Seeing one of the boxes behind the ones he moved had the name of the St. John's dairy on it. "Found a box from the dairy over here." he said opening it up, checking the contents and finding it empty as well.

"Probably the food we've been given' em. Fuckers crossed the line." replied the younger St. John brother while Jason kept moving boxes around and finding something else a bit out of the ordinary.

A digital camera laid on the surface. Completely out of place with everything else around here. "Find something?" asked Dan coming over as he picked up the camera, pressing the power button and not getting anything in response.

"Video camera, but it's dead." he replied.

"Oh, good. What else they got over here? Let's see if we can find anything else and then get a move on." the farmer moved off to the side to check around the back while Jason watched him with narrowed eyes.

It was 'good' that the camera wasn't working? That didn't add up. And Dan was acting a little more skittish the longer they stayed there, and it wasn't from the possibility of the camp site's owners coming back.

Slipping the camera into his back pocket, he backed up a bit before heading toward the tent. Poking his head inside, he saw that Dan had been right about the interior. Two sleeping bags laid side by side on the ground inside, one of them meant for a small child and had a blood soaked rabbit on the top of it.

After looking over his shoulder to see if nothing was coming up from behind, Jason stepped inside and carefully started picking through what little there was. Much like outside, there wasn't anything that was deemed useable. There was a picture of a mother holding her daughter on the smaller sleeping bag and not much else, but something else caught his eye.

A lump at the top of the bigger sleeping bag. Curious, he reached out and moved the padded bed-spread aside-

-His heart nearly stopped...eyes widening beyond belief and his breath hitching in his throat...

Clementine's hat looked right back at him. A little dirt spread out on the bill, but definitely the one she wore everywhere...the same one that went missing days ago..."

"What...the fuck?" he muttered under his breath, picking up the hat and looking it over carefully and discovering that it was indeed his charge's hat.

"Don't you fucking move!" he froze, the enraged woman's voice that had spoken somewhere behind startling him.

"SHIT!" Dan exclaimed raising his weapon. Jason spun around and stood up, rifle in hand facing the woman who stood at the edge of the camp site. Pale, boney-thin frame being covered by dirty clothes, a old red vest with 'Save Lots' on the tag covering her shirt.

The woman's stringy, matted hair fell all over, but her crazed eyes locked on the two of them. A crossbow in hand ready to fire. "Put you guns down!' she demanded swinging her weapon back and forth between them. "I ain't going back. You tell 'em Jolene ain't goin' back!"

"Hey! We had a deal! No shooting as long as we gave you food! What the fuck happened?!" Dan said, his grip on the gun now tight.

"You had a deal with THEM! I ain't THEM." the woman, Jolene stated while looking over at the farmer. "I know you. Oh, I know who you are, and I know what you do!"

"You don't know me." the farmer denied.

"Just who the fuck are you?!" Jason demanded. "Why are you even up here if you're not with the bandits?!"

The woman cackled madly, "Ha ha! Oh...it's a hell of a lot safer up here than down THERE, you best believe." She raised her crossbow again, "Now, maybe you didn't hear me last time when I asked you sweet...put your damn guns down!"

"You think I won't kill you? I'm gonna take this here crossbow, and put a nice sharp arrow, right through your eyeball. And into your goddamn brain! You're not men...you're monsters! All men are monsters! Take what they want and destroy it all! Take a can of beans, take a little girl...it's all the same to you!"

"Where did you get this hat?!" Jason held up Clementine's hat as he gripped the rifle in his hands.

Jolene grinned, showing rotten teeth. "From the little girl." she said causally.

The fighter felt rage course through him, "You STOLE it from her! Why?!"

"So what if I did? You stole her from ME!" the woman exclaimed back.

"What the fuck are you going on about?! Clementine doesn't belong to you, you crazy bitch!"

The woman chuckled to herself, "You know what? I changed my mind...I'm putting this arrow right through your BALLS. Yeah! Right through. String 'em on that tree over there. Then I'm a head down to that farm, and shoot every goddamn person I see!"

_"She's out of her fucking mind...but,"_ Jason looked around him briefly before settling back on Jolene. _"What the hell's happening around here? And how does she know about the dairy? Does...she know something we don't?"_ "Put. The crossbow. Down." he stated slowly. "You have no chance of killing us both."

"Maybe," Jolene cackled. "But I'm gonna use this to kill you fuckers!" she looked over at Dan and laughed louder. "Go on, tell him, boy! Tell him what you got in mind for-"

A loud bang echoed through the woods. The woman's left eye and the back of her head exploded in a fountain of blood and bone, her body collapsing face-first to the dirt lifeless.

The fighter was temporarily frozen by the sudden turn of events before looking to his left to see Dan lowering his weapon. "God dammit." he said shaking his head.

"What the fuck was that?!" Jason demanded, whirling on the other man.

"She had a crossbow aimed at our foreheads, boy. I wasn't gonna take no chances." he looked down as blood pooled around the dead woman's head. "It's a clean shot though...right through the eye. That's good shootin' right there. Still, what a waste."

Lowering his own weapon, but keeping his guard up. Jason sighed deeply, "So I take it this counts as a job well done?"

"If they ain't here, I don't know where they are." Dan replied looking at the surrounding trees. "And it ain't a good idea to go tromping through the woods lookin' for 'em. So, yeah, we head back." he walked over to he woman and picked up her weapon before glancing over his shoulder at the fighter.

"Once they see this...they'll get the message."

They began to take their leave, but on their way out Jason looked back at the woman. She was about to say something about Dan and the farm before he shot her. That they were planning something and that it was something bad...

He started moving to catch up with the younger St. John. A small fire being lit in his stomach. _"I gotta tell the others when we get back...something's definitely off about all of this."_

X

They made it back to the farm just as thunder started to rumble somewhere in the distance. A storm slowly making its way across the sky in their direction.

"Man, that was a hell of a ride, huh?" Dan said, catching the rifle Jason had tossed to him.

"A bit excessive if you ask me." replied the fighter, "She was out of her mind, but she didn't deserve to be executed."

The farmer shook his head, "What? You ain't gettin' soft on them, are ya? Not after what they tried to do to you and your friend earlier."

Both men turned to the screen door of the house opened and Brenda stepped out to greet them. "You're back! What happened?" she asked.

"Handled it, mama." Dan said simply before stepping off to put the guns away.

Jason watched him go before going up to the front of the house as Brenda sat down on the porch. "This isn't what Terry would've wanted..." she said forlornly.

"Terry?" asked the young man, a bit curious.

"My husband. Miss him every day." she explained, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Then screw it up for everybody then, why don't you?!" they turned toward the gazebo where Lilly and Kenny were locked in yet another heated argument.

"Oh calm down, Princess." the fisherman fired back. "I'll do it myself." they stepped away from one another. Lilly going to a bench nearby and Kenny toward the barn.

Jason sighed, "They're going at it again..." he muttered scratching the back of his head.

"There certainly a lot of tension with ya'll, huh?" asked Brenda.

"A bit, it's what happens when you get two people with different ideas trying to run things." he said being as vague as he possibly could.

"It's just tough times, honey." said the matriarch warmly. "Everyone's hungry and people get stir crazy when their tummy's empty." thunder rumbled in the distance. "And Jason," the fighter perked up as she smiled at him, "Don't worry your head about those bandits. I'm sorry that you've seen more violence than I'da thought in your short time, but ya'll are safe here. Don't worry."

If he wasn't so amped up about the possibility of something being amiss about everything, he would have believed the woman's words. But the only thing it really did was make the feeling even more pronounced.

"I think I'm gonna go for a walk, check on everyone else and see what's been going on since I've been out and about." he said heading toward the gate.

"Don't wander too far. Dinner will be ready before you know it. And thank your friend Katjaa for me. She and the kids are in the barn with the cow. That woman is a life saver!" Brenda called after him as he headed toward the barn.

The large doors opened a bit and a familiar face beamed out from the space. "You're back!" Clementine cheered, coming out of the barn and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Hay Clem," he smiled down at her. "Everything been okay since I've been gone?"

"Mmmhmm, we're all in the barn looking after Maybelle. Did everything go okay out there?" asked his charge.

Jason bit his tongue, not wanting to worry her with what had happened out in the woods. "Everything was fine. And look what I found." he reached into his back pocket and unfolded her hat and held it out for her.

"My hat!" Clementine beamed as she took it and put it back on her head. "I knew you'd find it! You said you would!"

The fighter's face turned serious, "Clem, when your hat went missing, did you remember seeing anyone around the motor inn? Someone you didn't recognize?" he asked.

"No." the girl said back confused. "Why?"

"It's probably nothing." her guardian said shaking his head, "Just remember to tell me or someone else in our group if you see something strange like that. Okay?"

"Okay." Clementine agreed as they headed to the barn together. "Hay, Jason?" she asked getting his attention. "Do you think you'll ever have kids?"

The fighter stumbled over one of his footsteps, righting himself quickly and clearing his throat. "Maybe someday. And if I'm lucky enough, I'll have a little girl like you."

"That's nice. You'd be a good daddy." Jason felt his insides warm from her statement. In all honesty, settling down and having a family was the very last thing on his to do list at the moment. There was too much going on for him to even consider things like that. Not to mention that he was responsible for Clementine, and her needs came before his own no matter what.

The duo stepped into the barn and found the others gathered together.

Katjaa, Duck and Andy were all sitting around a white and black spotted cow as it laid in a soft bed of hay on the floor. Clementine approached the animal, a little hesitant when she raised her head and flicked her ears.

"It's okay, Clementine, you can pet her." Katjaa said smiling.

The girl look up at Jason who just smiled and nodded. Reaching out, she ran her hand along the cow's neck. "Whoa..." she said in slight awe. "Katjaa says Maybelle could have her baby tonight."

"Maybe, we'll see." said the vet while smiling at the kids' excitement. The fighter looked toward the back of the building to see Mark and Kenny talking by another set of double doors set up on the far wall. The fisherman looked up and motioned subtly with his head for him to join them.

Making sure the others weren't paying attention, he headed in the direction of the other men. "What's up?" he asked seriously, quiet enough so that no one could notice.

"Take a look." Mark said motioning to the door. A heavy-duty, dead-bolt lock had been installed on it and had a strong padlock set up to make sure that it couldn't be opened.

"That's a lot of security for something being kept on a dairy." said the fighter, thinking about what could possibly be on the other side.

"Jase, they're hiding something." said Kenny while keeping an eye on Andy who still had his back to them on the other side of the barn. "They got boxes of stuff. And something metal and sharp. Especially since that guy over there, Andy? He locked it up real TIGHT the moment we came in here, I definitely heard a noise back there. That feeling you were having before? I'm starting to get it in spades."

"Same here." said Mark in agreement. "I didn't wanna believe it at first, but when Kenny showed me this everything started to make sense."

Jason nodded and looked to the other two men, "It's more complicated than that." he explained to them about what happened in the woods, the camera, finding Clementine's hat at the camp, and the encounter with the woman that somehow knew of the St. Johns. Mark and Kenny slowly became more and more anxious the longer he went on.

"We need to think of something, and fast." said Mark when all the facts were laid out. "Most of our group is here, we have to make sure that it's really safe for everyone, especially if they really are hiding something."

"We gotta know for sure." said Kenny looking over at Jason, "Go find a hammer or something, and I'll have this thing off in a second. You guys back me up in case them farmers come running."

The fighter stopped him quick, "We need to be discreet, Ken. If they find us breaking into their shit we could wind up in a bad spot."

"Alright, mister ninja. What do you have in mind?" asked the fisherman.

Jason looked over the lock assembly carefully. It was a strong system, designed so that people stayed out of where others didn't want them to go. But despite how well built it was, it had a very obvious weakness. "We undo the screws, they're the only weak point on this system. We get them off, look inside, then put it all back up before anyone is any wiser." he said laying out he game plan.

"Sounds good," said Mark liking the idea. "Now all we gotta do is-"

"Can I help you boys with something?" they all snapped their heads to the side and saw Andy looking at them with a stern expression on his face.

Thinking fast, the fighter smiled at him. "Just talking about what we're planning on doing after dinner. If we're allowed to stay we need to figure how we're going to be moving all of our remaining supplies from the motor inn to here."

"It's a good idea to be thinking about somethin' like that." said Andy with a nod, "Hey, uh...do me a favor. Don't fuck around with that door. Just, you know, mama gets nervous."

Jason nodded, though his mind was working in overtime seeing how jumpy the man was for them standing so close to the mystery door. "Andrew! I need your help again!" Katjaa called out from her spot by Maybelle. Andy gave them one last look before heading back over.

"They're definitely hiding something in there." Mark said, keeping an eye on the man before turning back to the door. "We can't get this thing open with him hanging around like that, need to distract him somehow."

"If you got an idea, let us know." said Kenny.

The man thought to himself before perking up, "Got something. Sit tight for a minute, I might have a way to draw Andy's attention." he toward the doors and left the barn. Several minutes passed before he came back through the entrance and went toward the farmer.

"Andy, I think something's wrong with the generator. It stopped working."

"What?" asked Andy concerned as he left the barn in a hurry to deal with the problem. Mark watched him go before approaching Jason and Kenny.

"Do we wanna know?" asked Kenny.

Reaching into his pocket, the man produced a multi-tool. "Used this to cut the belt in the generator outside, that should buy us enough time to check out that room." The sound of a loud ringing could be heard from outside in the direction of the house.

"Mom! Dad! Dinner time! It's dinner time!" Duck shouted as he and Clementine bolted from the barn and toward the house, Katjaa calling after her husband and following after them.

The fisherman looked to the other men, "I'll make an excuse for you...find out what's in there." he whispered before heading out as well.

"I'll keep an eye on Andy," Mark said heading out as well. "If he starts coming this way, I'll stall him for as long as I can."

Now alone, Jason flipped open the multi-tool Mark had handed to him and pulled out a Philip's head screwdriver. Putting the tool into the screws holding the lock in place, he undid the four on the left side quickly, catching each one as they came out and pocketing them until the door was loose enough to open.

Slipping the tool in his back pocket, the fighter grabbed the door handle and slowly pulled it open. In an instant, his nose was bombarded with the smell or raw meat and blood. His eyes widening when he saw what was hidden behind the sealed door.

It was a room filled with sharp instruments, metal tables and tiled floors. Blood was stained on almost every surface and on every blade that could be seen, including a huge circular saw that was set up on the table right across from the door.

A large, white-tiled bath was on the immediate left, the interior stained dark-crimson and still wet from the shine giving off from the small lights above. There was a refrigerator door in the back right-corner looking to be some kind of meat locker.

It was a slaughter house...on a dairy farm.

"What the fuck...?" he whispered to himself as he surveyed the room. His gaze drawn to a table where a bunch of bear traps were being kept. _"Bear traps? Why would they-"_ he paused in mid-thought. Memories of the trap in the woods that caught Ben's teacher, forcing him to cut the man's leg off.

_"...No...could that have come from here?"_ He heard voices outside and immediately jumped into action. Closing the doors and twisting the screws back into place as quickly as he could, slipping the multi-tool back into his pocket before heading toward the barn's entrance.

The doors opening as he reached out to grab the handle.

"Boy. Didn't you hear the bell?" Andy asked with a raised eyebrow. Mark behind him physically relaxing seeing that the door Jason had surveying was back to the way it was before.

"Yeah, sorry bout that. Took a moment to myself after everything that's happened in the last day." replied Jason keeping a straight face through he lie.

The farmer searched his eyes for a few moments before nodding, "Alright then, can't blame ya after everything that went on. Well, come on now, dinner time." he said motioning with his hand toward the outside.

Stepping out into the heavy air, Jason looked up and saw that the skies had darkened considerably. The smell of wet dirt wafting through the air promising the coming rain while the thunder claps in the distance grew in frequency. All three men walked along the path, through the gates in the fences and up into the house where everyone had started gathering around the large dinner table talking animately with one another.

"Excuse the mess. We had to block the back door after a walker got upstairs." said Andy as he went into the dining room with Mark right behind him. Jason looked around briefly before standing in the doorway and looking to everyone as they all started sitting down.

Taking a quick head count, he found one of their group missing. "Lilly? Where's your dad?" the fighter asked not seeing the man anywhere in sight.

"He wasn't feeling well." replied the woman after taking her seat.

"Poor man was all worn out, I brought him up to the spare room upstairs to rest. Not to worry, I'll take a plate up to him a bit later after he's rested." Explained Brenda, "Now everybody sit down and I'll go get the meal! Ooh, this is a delight!"

Jason nodded, "Mind if I wash up before dinner?"

"Bathroom's right outside in the hall. And be sure to get under your nails, you've been muckin' around in the dirt all day." said the matriarch. The fighter followed her directions, heading back out into the hall and going into the room at the base of the stairs.

Turning on the sink and washing his hands quick, splashing some water on his face. He turned the knob and reached for the towel on the nearby rack when he heard a couple of soft thumps come from the ceiling above his head.

Looking up, he narrowed his eyes wondering what that could have been. _"Probably Larry moving around."_ he thought wiping his face off. He headed for the door and stopped when there were more thumps from up above, the noise from the dining room blocking it out from everyone else but making it as clear as day to him.

The strange feeling in his stomach that he'd been feeling all day came back. And after what he had seen in the barn he started to feel very tense at the moment with what the St. Johns might be hiding from them.

After a quick mental debate, Jason decided to head upstairs and check on the old man. He may not have been on good terms with him, but that didn't mean that his life didn't have any meaning.

Approaching the stairs, the fighter slowly began to tread his way up the steps. Feet causing the boards to creak softly under his weight with each step the farther he went up, keeping as quiet as he possibly could while keeping an ear out for anyone else coming into the hall.

He reached the top of the steps in no time at all, the wind howling against the window in front of him as he looked around the second floor landing. There was only one doorway to his left, and another a few feet away that looked like a closet.

Jason looked down at the floor and felt puzzled when he saw a long, orange extension cord coming up from the stairs he just came up. Going through the wood bars of the banister and across the floor into the closet. Curious, he followed the cord and opened the door revealing all the shelves inside filled to the brim with medical supplies.

Morphine, rags, bandags, tubes, IV bags and syringes all neatly sorted before him making his mind whirl at what simple dairy farmers could possibly need with so many supplies like this.

At the very bottom was a small trash can filled with medical waste, with the orange cord feeding past it and through the wall behind everything, the center disconnected on the floor. "Where the hell is this going?" he wondered, kneeling down and plugging the two ends together and causing a small light to shine through the small hole behind the shelves.

"Must be something on the other side." he mumbled while looking toward the bedroom door. Heading that way, he grasped the door knob. Taking a deep breath as he turned it and pushed inward before stepping inside.

He was greeted with a dark room and an empty bed.

Larry wasn't there.

_"This doesn't make sense."_ he thought looking around for the old veteran. _"Brenda said he was up here...but where could he be?"_ Slivers of light shined through the darkness drawing his attention toward a bookshelf against the wall on his left. The outer edges lit up brightly from something on the other side.

Moving toward the shelf, he ran his hand along the edges and felt a door frame being blocked. The fighter pressed his shoulder against the surface and pushed, moving the barrier aside untik the door it had been placed in front of was revealed. The moment he stopped he heard thumping coming from the other side.

Dread filled his being, his throat suddenly dry as he reached for the knob and pulled the door open. Causing light to spill into the room temporarily blinding him.

When his eyes adjusted...he wished that they hadn't...

It was a small bathroom...and blood was everywhere! In the sink, the tub, the toilet, the floor...it covered ever surface. Worse than the small slaughter-house he had found in the barn. And laying in a huge pool of the crimson fluid on the floor at his feet was Larry.

The man's clothes stained dark with his legs missing at mid-thigh, the stumps tied off with IV tubes but continued to spurt out causing the pool beneath him to continue to grow.

"Oh...god..." Jason said in complete horror. His face losing all color seeing such a disgusting display. He saw Larry shift, the man slowly raising his head and opening bleary eyes to look at him.

"Ja...son..." he said in a low, drunken voice.

"Larry?! What the fuck happened to you?!" the fighter whisper/yelled. His foot accidentally knocking over a small trash bin that had multiple stained rags and a several sharp pieces of surgical equipment.

"...those...fucking brothers...they did this...to me..." he groaned out. His weak gaze looked up at him, his jaw quivering, his next words knocked what little wind there was left in the younger man's body.

"Don't...eat...the food..."

The whole world seemed to come to a stop, the disturbing revelation of everything that had happened up to that point coming back like an uncontrollable flood. Everything made sense now, and at that moment the situation just took a very dire and revolting turn.

The St. Johns were fucking cannibals! And they were going to make them eat-

"Jason, did ya fall in?!" Brenda's voice drifted up the stairs bringing him back to the present like a slap of reality. "Dinner's on the table and everyone's havin' at it!"

His stomach did a horrible twist when he realized that fact. _"CLEMENTINE!"_ he was moving before he even realized it. Bolting from the bedroom and practically jumping down the flight of steps, feet hitting the floorboards on the ground floor as he ran to the entrance to the dining room.

Eyes ignoring everything as they locked on to his charge who had just gotten her plate, her first bite on a fork on its way to her mouth.

"DON'T EAT THAT!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone jumped, Clementine's fork clattering to her plate as all attention locked on to the pale fighter as he stood breathing heavily in the doorway.

"Jase? Jesus, man! Did you find something?" asked Kenny more than a little startled.

"Yeah Jason, what's gotten into you?" asked Lilly crossly.

"YOU'RE EATING YOUR FATHER!" Jason shouted at her. "HE'S UPSTAIRS WITHOUT HIS FUCKING LEGS! THESE CRAZY FUCKERS CUT THEM OFF AND ARE SERVING THEM TO US!"

Everyone save for the St. Johns paled. Katjaa slapped Duck's fork from his hand as he tried to keep eating. Andy and Brenda were sending emotionless looks Jason's way. "What are you talking about?" Lilly demanded.

Jason glared at Brenda, "Tell them the truth. Tell them what they're eating Brenda!"

The group looked at the matriarch who looked down at her hands in her lap. "It's true." she said causing everyone to gasp in horror.

Dan kept eating, his back to the fighter as he spoke. "It didn't have to be this way..." he said before taking another bite. "Everything could have turned out okay for you folks."

"We woulda' died anyway!" said Andy. "We gotta thin about LIVIN'!"

"Settle down, honey." said his mother before turning to everyone else. "In rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised and how I raised my boys. Now, you got monsters roamin' around that do nothin' but eat people. And for what? To continue to rot til' they eat some more! We think we can put that meat to better use."

The fighter clenched his fists, teeth gritted feeling nothing but disgust for these people. "You people...are fucking SICK! Trading people like cattle, how the hell can you even look at yourselves?!"

"Andy is right," Brenda started. "We go after folks who were gonna die anyways, one way or another."

Dan swallowed a mouthful before glancing up at him, "Like ya'll."

Jason moved fast, snatching up the rifle the younger St. John had behind his chair. Dan getting up to stop him only for the butt of the weapon to smash against his face and knocking him to the floor. "CLEMENTINE RUN!" he shouted aiming the barrel at the man's head and tightened his finger around the trigger.

"Don't do it boy!" a loud yelp pierced the room catching the fighter's attention. Andy had gotten up, hand gripping the back of Clementine's hair keeping her in place with a revolver pressed to the back of her head. "Let my brother go, or somethin' bad might happen to this little peach right here." he said with his face devoid of any emotion.

Everything fell into a tense silence, no one could find the strength to stand given the sudden turn of events. "...Jason...!" Clementine whimpered to her guardian as the farmer pulled her hair a little harder.

"Let her go, or I'll BLOW HIS FUCKING BRAINS OUT!" Jason demanded, the barrel of the rifle digging hard into Dan's forehead.

The tension in the dining room was broken by a loud clatter out in the hall. All present looked toward the opening as the sound of something being dragged across the floor could be heard moving along the floorboards.

A moment later Larry appeared, pulling himself along on his arms leaving a streak of blood in his wake. "SOMEONE...HELP...! he screamed reaching out to them.

The distraction allowed Dan to yank the rifle from Jason's hands and kick him hard in the stomach, knocking him back a few steps. He barely had a chance to put his hands up to defend when the stock was slammed against his forehead. The whole world going on its side as people started shouting just as darkness took over his vision.

X

Making up had felt like that time back in the woods when he first came to this universe. Head pounding, vision blurry, but as things started coming back into focus it was a lot worse than it had been back then.

He could hear someone yelling and someone puking. Cracking his eyes open, his vision swam for a moment before coming back into focus revealing the interior of some kind of meat locker.

"Jason?" he saw something move into his field of vision that quickly shifted into Clementine's worried face. "Jason? Are you awake? Say something!"

"C-Clem?" he asked sitting up slowly. His head feeling like it had been bashed in with a hammer. "Are...are you okay?" he asked as he came back to full awareness.

The girl nodded, "It-It was a person! They tried to make us eat a person!" she exclaimed.

"I know, sweetheart." Jason looked around the room. Mark, Kenny and Lilly were with them. The two men trying to find a way through the door while Lilly was throwing up in the corner, on her knees looking as pale as a ghost.

"Open this fucking door! Give me back my family!" he heard Kenny shouting as he pounded his fists on the only way in or out of the room.

"We gotta find another way out of here." Mark said looking around the rest of the room before he caught sight of Jason. "Jase! Thank god you're awake!" he said kneeling down next to him.

Shaking his head, the fighter staggered to his feet as the last of the dizziness left him. "What...What happened?"

"Bastards knocked you out, then restrained the rest of us before we even had a chance." said Mark, a few bruises on his face proving that he had fought back at one point. "But we got a bigger problem at the moment."

"Those psychos have my family!" Kenny shouted while turning to them. "And we're stuck here in this damn meat locker! We've gotta get the fuck outta here!"

Looking around them, Jason nodded. "Agreed. There's gotta be a way to get out of here. Keep looking for something; a vent, exposed screws, bolts, loose panels, anything that we can pry open and escape through." the other two nodded and spread out.

"I'm scared." Clementine whimpered getting his attention, rubbing her arms to stave off the cold.

Jason knelt down and looked her in the eye, "Everything's going to be alright, we'll get out of this. I'll make sure of it." he said seriously. Looking over at Lilly, he saw that she was slumped against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest as she heaved in slow breaths.

"Lilly?" he asked moving over and crouching down next to her. "Lilly, we need to work together to get out of here."

She said nothing, head bowed with her brow pressed against her knees.

"I can't imagine what you're going through. The situation is beyond fucked up. But we need everyone on board if we want to have any kind of chance to survive this." At first, it looked like what he was saying had no effect. Until her head slowly rose and looked up at him, eyes dull and empty while her complexion looked white like a sheet.

It wasn't a surprise, the poor woman had just been forced to eat part of her father by a bunch of cannibals. Nobody would be in a good state of mind after something like that.

Jason put his hand on her shoulder, "Do it for your dad...let's get back at these fuckers for what they've done."

Lilly's eyes narrowed, her face turning into that of a snarl, "Fuck off, Jason. You didn't..." she held her mouth, seeming to throw up again. "Just...leave me alone." Jason sighed, he knew she'd be in no condition to move at the moment...things were just too fresh.

"Jase! Over here!" Kenny called out while motioning to the air vent system hooked up to the right of the door. The unit was roughly six and a half feet above the ground and seemed to be the only ventilation system for the locker.

"If we had something to remove the screws on the mount, we could take this down and crawl out of here." said the fisherman.

Checking his pockets, the fighter discovered that the multi-tool had been taken off him. "Fuck. Anyone got something we can use to take the screws out?"

Mark checked his pockets and perked up, "I do!" he pulled out his hand revealing two quarters and a dime. "Back at the motor inn, these were given to me as part of a joke. By..." he looked at Lilly and went quiet, not wanting to make her any more upset then what she already was.

"These could work." Jason said taking one of the quarters. Holding it between his thumb and forefinger as he slipped it into the notch of the screw and twisting to the left.

There was a soft creak, and the screw gave way as he began to turn it until it popped out completely. He repeated the same process with a couple of others before he and Kenny grabbed the unit and pulled it down from the mount. Revealing a shaft that had been on the other side.

"There's our way out." said Kenny looking up at it. "Looks like it could probably led into that back room."

"No way in hell any of us can fit through that." said Mark after seeing the size of the opening.

"I can do it." they all turned to Clementine who was doing her best to put on a brave face.

Jason wanted to say no, to try and find another way. But there wasn't enough time to consider other options at the moment. "Are you sure?" he asked his charge, getting a nod in return. "Okay. Be careful, be silent, and at the first sign of trouble you run, understand?"

"Okay." he put his hands on her waist and picked her up high enough so that she could slip into the vent. "What do I do when I get out?" she asked looking back.

"Try and find the lock that seals the door and open it from that side." he explained. She turned and started making her way through the shaft.

Seconds ticked by, the group of four waited with bated breath as they heard the girl banging around inside the shaft. The fighter winced every time one noise would be louder than the others. Soon the banging stopped, a loud gasp echoed out making them all jump.

"Clem?" Jason called after her, worried that she had been discovered.

A moment later the door to the locker clicked, swinging open to reveal the little girl with a freaked out expression on her face.

"You okay, baby-girl? Did anyone catch you?" her guardian asked.

She shook her head, "No. But there's a man outside."

The fighter nodded, "Okay." he looked over at Lilly who still hadn't moved. "Stay here with Lilly, look after her, she's not doing too good right now. Mark, Kenny and I are going to find Duck and Katjaa."

"Okay, please be careful out there." Clementine said heading over to the woman and sitting down next to her.

Looking toward the other two, Jason nodded seriously as they headed into the small slaughter room he had uncovered earlier. The sound of heavy rain hitting the roof above drowning out almost every sound that they made as they traversed the room.

"Fuck..." Mark said in disgust seeing all of the bloodied equipment surrounding them. "It's a damn human slaughter-house."

"I should have trusted my instincts. I knew there was something fucked up about this place." The fighter said clenching his fists. "Look around, find anything that can be used as a weapon. We're getting the hell out of here." he reached out and picked up a bloody sickle from the nearby table.

Kenny picked up a small cleaver, while Mark settled for a small cattle-prod that was laying on the edge of the drainage tub. All three men then headed toward the door leading out, pulling it open a crack and looking out into the barn.

The main entrance was also open a bit, with Dan sitting on a hay-bail in front of it with his rifle leaned up against the side as he looked out into the rain outside. "Do we have a plan?" asked Mark, gripping the taser in his hand.

"The rain should cover footsteps pretty well." Jason said looking around the barn's interior. "We sneak up on the fucker, take him out, take his gun, then head for the house. Duck and Katjaa are probably being kept there."

Kenny nodded, "Sounds good. Let's get this fucker."

"Mark, stay back here and provide back up if things take a bad turn." the fighter said turning to him. The other man nodded as he and Kenny opened the door a little wider, slipping through and gently treading their way across the floor boards.

Breath held, the two slowly made their approach. "...Who wants some?" Dan called out into the dark making them pause a moment. "I DARE some dead assholes to try to cross my fence tonight!" Realizing that he wasn't talking about them they kept moving, drawing ever so closer to his unguarded back.

"Dan, what are you doing outside the barn?" Jason and Kenny froze, the fighter pushing the older man into a nearby stall and closing the door just as Andy came up to the opening to the barn and began talking to his brother.

"Just guardin' the place, like you said." replied the younger brother.

"Well, quit sittin' out in the rain like a damn weirdo. Mama says we can't keep that many folks alive and not expect any trouble." said Andy. "Pick one to keep...and kill the rest."

"Can I pick the one to keep alive?" asked Dan.

"Not the kid. Not enough meat on her to trade."

Jason gritted his teeth, rage filling him like a blaze from hell _"These assholes are going to pay for this! They'll regret not taking me out when they had the chance." _He opened the stall just enough to peer out, seeing the brothers exchange a few more words before Andy walked off. Dan came into the barn, taking out a bear trap and setting it up close to the door, most likely in the off chance one of them tried to escape.

"What's going on?" Kenny whispered.

"He's setting up traps so we can't get away." Jason whispered back, closing the door when the farmer turned around and headed toward the barn door. The sound of the entrance closing quickly following as he looked at the fisherman. "Dammit, lost him."

Kenny tensed, "Take another look, find out whee he went."

The fighter slowly pushed the door open-

-And found the barrel of a rifle aimed right in his face. "Mistake, boy." Dan said with a sadistic grin on his face.

Jason grabbed the rifle and torqued it to the side just as it went off. The sound deafening him for a few moments, but he recovered enough to pull out the sickle and stab it into the man's collar as he reached to take out more rounds.

Dan screamed in pain, blood gushing down his front as the fighter drove the blade in deeper. He swung the stock of the rifle out, but Jason blocked the man's arm from getting too close and delivering a powerful right-cross that snapped his jaw to the side. He stumbled back, dropping the weapon as Kenny burst from the stall, the cleaver in his hand slashing a wide gash in the man's side before he could recover.

Falling back, the farmer's leg fell into the bear trap that quickly snapped shut. The sound of it closing and the sudden crack of the man's ankle breaking could be heard over the ran. He shouted in agony, clutching at his leg as blood began to seep out from where it had closed.

"Where's my family asshole?!" Kenny demanded, ready to tear the man apart if he didn't start talking.

Dan glared up at him. "You can't have 'em! We need the vet!" a foot connected with his side, breaking a rib and sending him crashing to the floor.

"Start talking you sick fuck!" Jason shouted while placing his foot on the man's chest to keep him pinned, grabbing a pitchfork from one of the nearby bails and raised it close to his throat.

The farmer laughed insanely. Mark, Lilly and Clementine coming out from the back as he started speaking. "You see?!" he groaned in pain, holding his side. "You understand now, don't you?! You can have me! It's how the world works now! Give part of yourself...so others can live!"

"That ISN'T how things are suppose to be!" the fighter shouted back. "You and you're fucking family are worse than the walkers! At least they a just mindless killing machines! You lure people in and turn them into food to trade!"

It was here he remembered the woman in the woods, the one that had Clementine's hat. Her words now making sense. "That woman...she was trying to warn me about you and your family...You fucking killed her so your damn secret wouldn't be blown! All of you are nothing but sick, twisted fucking animals and I'm done with you're shit!"

He raised the pitchfork a little higher, "Now were are Duck and Katjaa! We won't ask again!"

"NOOOOO!" Katjaa screamed from somewhere outside.

"KAT!" Kenny shouted looking out into the storm.

"Go Kenny! I'll be right behind you!" Jason told the fisherman, keeping his gaze on Dan as his friend bolted out of the barn to find his family.

The farmer started chuckling. "Remember, Jason. You gotta keep me alive! If you kill me, the meat gets tainted! You can't eat it!"

"You're already fucking tainted..." The fighter growled, hands tightening around the shaft of the tool he was holding. "You and that whole family of yours are nothing but a plague in what's left around here." He brought the pitchfork up and stabbed it down.

Dan shouted, clenching his eyes and waited for the pain to come as the pitchfork came toward him...

...stabbing into the hay bail on his right.

"I am NOTHING like you." Jason said stepping back. "This world, won't turn me into a monster that preys on others. I won't kill you...but that doesn't mean I have to save you." He turned and looked at the three that were watching him with wide eyes. Clementine looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears as he gazed back at her.

"Oh god! Don't hurt him!" Katjaa's voice pierced through he storm snapping them back to the present.

"Mark! Lilly! Keep Clementine safe!" the fighter said before bolting out of the barn and into the pouring rain. Lightning flashing in the distance and lighting up the dark sky above as he looked around for anyone else.

"Kenny!" he called out not seeing the fisherman anywhere in sight. Looking up toward the farm-house, the lights form the windows cutting through the night. Eye narrowed, he began to head up that way when he heard rustling from the nearby cornfield.

Through the crops, he could make out a hunched, groaning form stumbling forward toward the fence. Jason put one leg behind the other, preparing to take down the coming walker when something swept up behind it and cut its head in half.

A moment later, two familiar forms crept out of the shadows and up to the barbed wire fence.

"Carley? Ben?" Jason asked, relieved to see the two of them.

"Jason? Is everything okay? We heard screams coming up to the house." said the reporter worried.

The fighter shook his head, "These fuckers are crazy! They killed Larry and tried to feed him to us!" he said over the rain.

"Dammit, I knew we shouldn't have trusted them." Ben said shaking his head.

"Shit." growled Carley, "How many of them are there?"

"Only two, we disabled one of them back in the barn. The other two are up in the house, they have Duck and Katjaa." Jason explained looking back up toward the house. "Kenny went up there to look for them, but I haven't seen him yet."

"What do you need us to do?" asked Ben more than willing to help anywhere he could.

Looking around a moment, Jason turned back to them. "Main gates a bad idea, go around back and find another way in. If you run into either of the remaining St. Johns don't let them escape! Do what ever it takes!"

"What are you going to do?" asked Carley taking out her pistol.

He looked up toward the house, "I'm getting into the house. Be careful guys, these people are off their fucking rockers."

Nodding, Carley motioned for Ben to move. Sending a worried look Jason's way before they disappeared into the field again. Jason looked at his target and began to make his way forward. Another scream from Katjaa from inside had him on his feet and running up toward the door.

A form appeared in the screen door and Brenda's voice drifted outside. "Andy? Danny? Is that you? What's going on out there?" she asked not seeing mush of anything.

"Danny's in the barn...regretting everything you've done to us!" Jason called out as he stomped up toward the porch.

Brenda backpeddled from the door and vanished just as he reached it. The sound of a struggle from within followed by another scream. He could make out the St. John matriarch holding Katjaa in front of her with a revolver pressed to her temple.

"JASON! THEY HAVE DUCKIE! PLEASE!" the woman pleaded.

"Shut up!" Brenda demanded before looking at the fighter. "Get back! Don't come in here!"

His heart beating in his ears, throat dry and clothes soaked all the way through from the rain. Jason grabbed the handle and pulled the door open slightly. Looking into the dark interior of the house's main hallway and looked toward the woman holding his friend hostage.

Brenda shook, holding her weapon to Katjaa's head as she glared at him. "You just HAD to go snooping around, didn't you?!"

"Let her go Brenda." he said stepping into the house. "It's over now, no one else has to get hurt."

The woman took a step back on to the stairs. "Jason, don't you take another step!" she shouted aiming her weapon on him making him pause. "Just go away and leave us be!"

Jason shook his head, "I can't do that. Let Katjaa and Duck go, then we'll leave." he took another step or two forward, Brenda moving back slowly keeping the distance between them the same while maintaining her hold on her hostage.

"Stop right there! I mean it!" she screamed aiming the revolver back at him.

Raising his hands, the fighter spoke, "Think about Terry, Brenda. Would he have wanted his farm turned into a slaughterhouse?! His family into cannibals when they could be helping people?!"

She ignored him and continued moving back, "I'll kill her, Jason." she said, her voice quivering. "Just stay back, don't do anything stupid!"

"Brenda...please..." Katjaa pleaded the farther up the stairs they went. The fighter saw movement up by the banister when the lightning flashed outside. A pair of pale, grabbing arms reaching through the bars at the woman's back that she was completely unaware of.

He realized that it was Larry's zombified remains. He must have bled to death after they had all been rounded up in the barn and had turned as a result. _"Gotta keep her talking, gotta keep her moving, it's Kat's only chance."_ "Brenda...there's been too much death already. It doesn't have to end like this, you can redeem yourself."

She kept moving back, "I don't want to kill you, Jason!" her aim shook as they stood only three meters apart.

"Look around you!" he shouted up at her, "You've turned this beautiful place into a fucking nightmare! How could you have let this happen?!"

"You don't understand!" she said back, continuing up the steps oblivious to the danger. "We had to do what we did! It was the only way to -AH!" She screamed when Larry's dead hands grabbed the back of her neck. Releasing Katjaa and sending her down the steps forcing Jason to catch her as the old veteran's teeth sank into the matriarch's neck, flesh tearing free as he began to feed.

"Kat?! You okay?!" the fighter asked over the dying woman's screams.

"I'm fine, but they still have Duck! Where's Kenny?" she asked in fear.

"I said don't move asshole!" they heard Andy shout from outside.

The two of them ran out of the house and out into the yard to see Kenny facing the farmer who was holding Duck before him. A hunting rifle pressed to the back of his head with his finger hovering over the trigger. "Let him go god dammit!" the fisherman raged bolting forward.

The gun fired. Kenny fell to the ground holding his side while Katjaa screamed, the woman going to her husband's side. "DAAAD!" Duck cried as the man holding him turned his weapon on Jason.

"Who the fuck fo you people think you are?!" Andy shouted. "Look at what you've done!"

"You brought this on yourself. You and you're whole damn family! You promised us safety and food, not THIS!" the fighter shouted back. "Let the boy go, it's over! We're walking out of here!"

The farmer shook his head, "No way! We had a deal! And you're keeping your end of the bargain!" whatever else could have been said was swallowed up by another gunshot. Andy shouted, grabbing his ear as a bullet blew right through it.

Carley stood at the top of the hill behind Jason. Ben, Mark, Clementine and Lilly all with her as they stood united.

Seeing his chance, Jason let loose a battle cry as he charged forward. Moving Duck out of the way as he slammed his shoulder into Andy's middle, making his next shot go wide and sending them both pitching over the side of the hill.

"JASON!" Clementine screamed as the two men smashed through the wooden fence at the bottom of the slope.

Shaking off the daze, Jason rolled back to his feet in time to block a kick that had been aimed for his head. Lashing his other hand out, he sucker-punched the farmer in the lower stomach and knocking the wind out of him.

Getting to his feet, he took a stance as Andy came at him again. Blocking a haymaker that would have cracked his jaw, he sent out his own right-cross that connected with the man's temple and making him stagger. A left jab followed making the farmer's head snap back and allowing the younger man to land a spin kick to his solar plexus that sent him crashing to the dirt.

The fighter wasn't done, rage and adrenaline coursed through him like a drug. He wanted this man to suffer for everything he put his group through, what he put his FRIENDS through.

He wanted him to feel PAIN.

"GET UP!" he shouted, grabbing Andy by the front of his shirt and dragging him up. His fist connected with the man's cheek with a loud crack, sending him crashing to the mud. Jason straddled him, knees pinning his arms down as he began raining punch after punch down on the farmer's face.

Each strike that landed was met with a satisfying 'smack'. Teeth jarring, cartilage cracking as bruises began to already take shape. Blood dripped out from Andy's nose and mouth as the younger man kept up the relentless assault.

The group had gathered behind them, looking on as the one they came to know as a friend continued to beat the deranged farmer into the dirt. Clementine watched wide-eyed, hand grasping on to Carley's as she watched her guardian lose himself to his fury.

Sensing the girl's distress, Carley passed her over to Katjaa who was tending to Kenny's wound before moving forward. "Jason? Jason stop!" she grabbed his shoulder making him snap up to look at her, his eyes projecting the amount of anger within them.

"He's done. He's had enough." she said gripping his arm a little more, her own eyes pleading with him to stop this.

Looking back down at his opponent, Jason saw Andy's face was a bloody and bruised mess. His nose completely shattered and gushing blood, jaw visibly dislocated and his right eye swollen shut."

Taking several deep breaths, his anger fading as he looked down at his blood covered knuckles. Everything coming down on him in that moment as the rain continued to pour, dripping down his face and falling off his nose and jaw.

A soft hand touched his face and made him look back up at Carley who's warm brown eyes locked on to his conflicted blue ones. "Come on...let's just go home." she said gently while helping him to his feet.

They began to walk back toward their group when they heard a slurred voice speak behind them. "Is that...all ya got, Jason?" Andy pulled himself up into a sitting position, attempting to stand only to fall to his knees. "You ain't...shit!" he raged, spitting out a couple of teeth and a glob of blood.

Jason tensed, turning to face the man who still wanted to fight. "It's OVER!" he roared. "You! Your family! This farm! It's DONE!"

Andy chuckled weakly, managing to get himself into a slumped-standing position. "F-Fuck you! As soon as...Dan and mama get out here...you're all fucked!"

The fighter shook his head, "They're not coming, Andy." he spoke in a grim tone.

"W-What do you mean?" the farmer asked, his lone eye widening. "Jason, what the fuck do you mean?!"

They stood there facing one another silently for a few seconds before Jason turned and began walking back to the group with Carley. "Don't you DARE walk away from me, JASON!" Andy shouted after them, but they just kept walking.

Falling to his knees, the last St. John continued to rant and rave. "Get back here and finish this!"

Jason paused in mid-step. Part of him wanting to go back and put the man down for good, ending this madness once and for all. He looked toward his group, all of them looking on with hitched breath as they waited for his decision. Seeing Clementine gaze catch his own, her head slowly shaking from side to side, telling him to walk away with them.

Carley held his arm with hers, "He's not worth it..." she said softly. Her words, and his charge's eyes being the only things he needed to make his choice as he continued forward.

"Get back here and fight me like a man, BOY!" Andy shouted when he refused to come back.

All around the farm, walkers began to come out of the surrounding woods. The generators around the farm began to smoke before shutting down, cutting all power to the fences as the undead began to converge on the property.

"They're getting in!" Clementine shouted as the walkers began to tear their way through the fences.

"Come on, we're leaving!" Jason called out to everyone as they all gathered together and started moving.

"JASON!" Andy shouted out as the creatures came toward him. Lilly was the last to leave, sending one final scathing look toward the broken man before following after the rest of the group. Leaving the St. Johns and their farm to their fate as they began to make their way back toward the motor inn.

The young fighter leading them, Clementine coming up to stand on his right as they all left the horrid place behind them. Thunder and lightning crashing behind them as the storm raged on.

**A/N...and there it is. Considering the size and content of this chapter, I've separated it into two. I'll work hard to get the next update out for your viewing pleasure, but after something like this it'll take a lot to top. But after everything I've done up to this point, it won't take much.**

**Remember to throw your votes in for the pairing poll, this is the last chance you can get them in before it closes. Drop your reviews and PMs at the door and I'll get back to you! Till next time guys!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello all, I'm back again and with the shortest chapter I've posted to date. The reason mostly relying on the fact that the last chapter had been so large that adding this to it would have felt excessive. And I needed a filler chapter for the in between of the two episodes from the series. **

**There won't be any action, just dialogue and a lot of contemplation on Jason's part, you'll see the reason soon enough. But this installment will also have the final poll for the pairing that will take place in this series. And I can tell you this much, the fans have spoken and they have spoken LOUD and CLEAR. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead**

**Chapter 7: The Choices We Make**

The rain had finally stopped, the storm passing a little while ago leaving the night-time air a bit heavy and cold. The group of nine made their way through the woods, along the wet dirt path back toward the motor inn.

All of the horrors and disgust that they had bore witness to at the St. Johns farm still very fresh on their thoughts as they put as much distance between themselves and that place as possible.

Kenny was still holding his side, the bullet from Andy St. John's gun having just grazed him. The fisherman had been lucky, but seeing his wife and son walking along side him proved that he was far more than just lucky. His eyes looked ahead at the one leading them back.

Jason walked with long, meaningful strides. Little Clementine at his side, her tiny hand grasping on to his as they walked through the woods.

The others were watching as well. Katjaa, Mark, Carley, Ben, even Lilly all had their eyes on the fighter. His actions, quick thinking and instincts had saved them from a horrible fate. And even though the lost Larry, they were all happy that he had been the one to pull them all through it.

Carley moved up to stand on his other side, "Hey, Jason. I'd say I'm sorry for leaving the motel unattended, but-"

"It's okay Carls." he said flashing her a smile. "If you and Ben hadn't shown up when you did, things could have been a lot worse...nice shot by the way. Blowing a man's ear off isn't an easy one to make."

The reporter smiled back before remembering what he had told them about what was happening on the farm. "Were they really killing people?...For food?" she asked fearing the answer.

He nodded grimly, gently gripping Clementine's hand when she shivered. "Yeah...they were."

"Urgh! That's sick. God. Just..." she looked down at the little girl before dropping her voice to a whisper. "Clementine...does she know?"

"She's not stupid, Carley." Jason said back in the same way. "And after everything she saw when it all came out...I wish she hadn't, but it was out of our control."

Carley reached into her back pocket and produced a digital camera. The same camera that he had found at the camp he and Dan had snuck into before all the chaos. "Katjaa managed to grab this while she was in the house. She said it was with your stuff." she explained.

"Yeah, found it when I was looking for the people that shot and Mark and me. Batteries are dead, but there might be something on it that could be useful." he replied, taking it from her and slipping it into his own pocket. Looking back at the rest of the group, he saw a few people were lagging and decided that they needed a break. "Let's stop for right now, catch our breath and we can keep going afterward."

Everyone spread out, Lilly and Mark who both had rifles they managed to pilfer from the farm stood guard while the others relaxed. Katjaa had Kenny sit down on a rock as she examined his wound.

"How are you feeling?" asked the woman concerned.

"I'll be fine." he groaned. "I'm just...not as young as I used to be."

"You can still kick a lot of ass, _grandpa_." they looked up and saw Jason approaching them. Having left Clementine with Carley so that he could check on everyone else. "You guys alright? Things got pretty bad back there."

"We're all fine now, thanks to you." Kenny said grinning before turning to his family. "Hon, can you and Duck give me a second? I want to take to Jason for a bit."

Katjaa nodded, turning to the younger man and wrapping him in a tight embrace. "Thank you." she whispered, leaning back to give him a smile before taking her son and going around to look after the others.

The fisherman was silent for a few moments before looking at his friend. "There's gonna be fallout after this."

"I know." Jason said nodding. "No one's going to be the same after what happened." he looked toward Lilly who still seemed very much out of it. "It's not just the farm either, eventually those bandits will notice those freaks are gone and go looking for new targets...and we're the only ones around at the moment."

Kenny nodded, "We need a plan, and a damn good one. That RV back at the inn is just about ready. I say we finish fixing it and get the hell out of here."

"Agreed. Just need those last two parts and a few extra supplies." the fighter looked around them. "We gotta start moving again, can't stay out here for too long, we're too exposed." He looked over and saw Clementine approaching them. Kenny took that moment to head over toward his family as the guardian and charge spoke.

"Hay Clem, everything okay?" he asked the girl as she fiddled with the hem of her dress. The long sleeves of the shirt she wore under it still covered in dirt from their time on the farm.

"Jason...are those bad people dead?" she asked rather bluntly.

Jason sighed, "We didn't kill them, they could have escaped when the walkers started storming the place...but there's no way of knowing for sure, sweetheart. But I have a feeling they won't be in any shape to come after us ever again."

"That's good..." she shuffled a bit. "You were scary back there. When you were fighting Andy."

The fighter knelt down to her level. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that. I was angry, and scared. They were planning on killing us and had no remorse for it, and I don't want to think about the number of others they had hurt. I just didn't want anything to happen to anyone else."

His charge reached out and held his face with one of her hands. "It's okay. You were just trying to protect us. I'm just glad that you didn't kill him, you're not a murderer like they were."

Jason smiled when they all heard Duck speak up. "Hey dad, what's that noise?"

They all strained to hear, the sounds of animals and insects in the woods dominating the air. But through it they could make out a low 'ding-like' noise that kept repeating. "Sounds like a car..." said Kenny.

"Oh, god...not more strangers." said Ben not looking forward to encountering more people out here.

Jason moved up, Kenny on his right as they crept along the bushes on the side of the path. Coming up to a turn off that led into a small clearing where a station wagon was parked. The lights inside and out were all on and the passenger door was wide open allowing the odd noise to drift out into the night.

Holding his hand up toward the others keeping them back, the fighter called out to the car. "Hello?" his voice loud and clear as they waited for the occupants to answer. When nothing came he turned to the group, "I'm gonna move up, Mark, Lilly, cover me with the rifles. Anything moves, warn me."

"I'm coming too." said Kenny but winced and held his side.

"That's the answer for that." Jason said seriously. "Your injured, hang back here, I won't be long." he turned back toward the car and started moving in closer. The noise from the open door steadily getting louder as he strained to hear anything else.

He made it to the vehicle with no trouble, peering inside he found the seats empty. Checking the dashboard, he found the gas-gauge on E. _"No one here and the tank is empty. Car must be a derelict." _he thought removing the keys and making the noise stop.

"Oh shit..." looking up, the fighter saw Kenny at the back of the wagon looking into the tailgate. "Guys you gotta see this." he said motioning for everyone to join him.

Coming around to the back, Jason couldn't keep the smirk from his face. Contained in the abandoned car were boxes upon boxes of supplies. Food, water, medical, one open suitcase revealed boxes of bullets and there was a Beretta and a revolver among them. "Looks like our luck is changing." he commented.

"This food could save us." said Katjaa with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Not ALL of us." Lilly muttered darkly. Everyone sent her a sympathetic look.

Ben walked around the car before speaking his mind, "Look, we don't know if these people are dead. We can't just take their stuff."

"If they come back, then we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruined their lives." added Lilly.

"What about those bandits?" offered Mark. "It could be theirs. And even if it isn't whose to say they won't come around and take everything themselves? We're in pretty desperate need right now."

"This stuff isn't ours." Everyone looked at Clementine who spoke her thoughts.

"Dad...who's car is this?" asked Duck looking up at his father.

Kenny shook his head, "Don't worry about that son, it's ours now."

"It's abandoned, Duckie. Don't worry." added Katjaa.

"But what if it's not?" asked Clementine, "What if it's not abandoned? What if it IS someone's?"

Kenny sent a look Jason's way, everyone else seemed to do the same leaving him the swing vote over what they should do. The fighter looked at all the supplies, things that they needed to keep surviving. It was a hard call. All the evidence points to the fact that the car COULD BE abandoned.

There wasn't hardly anything left for them back at the motor inn, they wouldn't all last a week. If they didn't take this they'd be in trouble. But if they did, and the people who actually owned it came back...they'd be the ones in trouble.

After several minutes of weighing the pros and cons of what could come of this, he made his choice. _"God...I hope you can forgive me for this."_ He turned to his charge. "Clem...we need to take this stuff."

"But it's not ours, why do we need to take it?" asked his charge a little upset at the decision.

"Because we need it, I'm not saying that it's right, but when it comes down to it it's for the sake of survival." Jason knelt down and gently held her shoulders, "I know you're upset, baby-girl. But if we don't take it, then someone else will. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do because its important." he explained.

Clementine looked to the ground, nodding slowly as he stood back up and unlocked the hatch with the keys he pulled from the ignition. Kenny helped him take out the boxes and pass them out to others to be carried back to the motor in until everyone put Duck and Clementine had a box.

When the compartment was empty, Jason looked down and managed to find a small, red Brooklyn hoodie that looked like it would fit his charge. "Here Clem, it's going to get colder out here." he said handing it to her.

She shook her head, "But, it's not mine."

"I know, but think of it as you're holding on to it until we find the real owner. Okay?" he said in return. The girl accepted it hesitantly as he closed the hatch, tossing the keys into the passenger seat with a solumn expression before joining the others.

"Hey," Carley spoke up as she pulled something from one of the boxes they had. "I found these batteries when we were going through the supplies. I think they might work in that little camcorder that you found." she took out a few more and handed them out to Clementine, "Here, you can have some too...for you're walkie-talkie."

"Sure you can handle these? You're not known to be very savvy with batteries." The fighter said smirking as he took the batteries, pulling out the small device at the same time as he put them into place.

The reporter shook her head, "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Nope." he replied simply as he got the batteries in place and switched the camcorder on. A video started playing immediately and he felt his heart still in his chest. "...what the fuck?" Carley looked over his shoulder and gasped.

X

_The outside of the motor inn could be seen clearly through a bunch of trees, the group milling about and going about their business. Completely unaware that they were being observed from afar. _

_Jason and Kenny could be seen pushing a car down the road in front of the inn, Mark and Larry moving a couch out from one of the rooms while Carley stood on look out._

_The image suddenly changed to the inside of a tent, the camera falling to the ground as a woman was screaming. "JAKE, BART, LINDA and ALL YA'LL FUCKIN' SICKOS FROM THE SAVE-LOTS! THEY CALL YA'LL BANDITS! BUT YOU'RE FUCKING RAPIST MONSTE-"_

_Things shifted back to the motor inn...on the day that the group met the St. Johns brothers. The camera zoomed in on Clementine as a woman began speaking. "Oh darlin', baby. Look at you. Look. At. You. Oh, you need a mama, sweetheart. We won't let them bandits get you, will we darlin'?" _

_Jason walked around the front of the RV while he was passing out food when his charge got up to greet him. "How's everything going Clem?" he asked smiling. _

_"Okay." she replied._

_"Where's you're hat? You never leave the room without it." said her guardian ruffling her hair._

_She shrugged, "I don't know. Can you help me find it?"_

_Jason nodded, "Sure thing, sweetheart. When did you lose it?" _

_"I had it a couple of days ago."_

_The rest of the conversation was cut off, the camera spun around revealing Jolene's haggard face. " Ya'll thinkin' you're safe, sittin' there actin' like things are the way they used to be. The dead don't kill their own. It's the living you gotta be afraid of...the people I used to call friends...the people who took..." she winced._

_"Don't worry, little girl. Bandits got their eye on that dairy. As long as they keep getting food from them, you'll be safe. I promise." The footage cut out and the screen went black._

X

Lowering the camera, Jason tossed it on to his bed at the motor in. He'd watched it three times since they had gotten back to the motor inn. Trying to find some sort of clue or reason behind why Jolene had been targeting them like that.

The woman had obviously been disturbed, something those bandits had done to her having messed her up so bad that she was acting the way she did. But her message in the recording was painstakingly clear, one that he should have known since the beginning of this little odyssey of his.

_"Fight the Dead...Fear the living."_ He sighed, running a hand down his face and rubbing his eyes. Glancing over at Clementine's bed, he found the girl asleep. She'd been out the moment her head hit the pillow, her new hoodie fitting well over her small frame and keeping her warm as she curled underneath the blankets.

Her face was twisted into a grimace, soft whimpers coming from her closed lips as she seemed to be facing a nightmare. The fighter rose from his bed, moving over to hers and sitting down next to her. Taking her hat from her head and setting it on the bedpost closest to them before running his hand gently over her hair.

"It's okay, Sweetheart." he said as she started to calm down. "Nothing's going to hurt you as long as I'm here."

Clementine shifted a little closer to him in her sleep, whole body seeming to relax by his presence. "...daddy..." she said lowly making Jason's movements pause. The one word striking something deep within him that left him stunned.

Another sigh left his lips, patting her head a few more times before standing again. Grabbing his denim 'walker-armor' jacket and pulling it on before stepping out on to the balcony outside their room to get some fresh air.

The sun had started peeking over the trees, casting an orange-red glow over the place that they had called home. They'd taken all the supplies they had found on the way back and stored them in the spare room down in the lower part of the motel between Mark's and Lilly's rooms. It was an impressive collection, and they'd all be alright for a long while with what there was.

Though there was still mixed feelings about it amongst the group. Kenny, Katjaa, Carley and Mark all agreed that taking the stuff was for the best. But Ben and Lilly were still highly against it. Jason knew that no matter which way he went on the issue someone would be pissed about it, and it wasn't an easy choice to make.

But in the end, he'd chosen to do what was best for his group. And he'd bare the sins on his soul for what he had decided. Clementine hadn't been too thrilled about it either, hadn't really spoken to him since they got back. He hoped that she'd forgive him someday and understand why he had chosen to take the supplies.

Yawning, he leaned against the railing and looked off into the distance as the new day started. The fighter hadn't slept all night, his body ached a bit from the confrontations he had been in at the farm. _"Gotta get back to training, been too lax with that lately."_ he thought, rolling his shoulders to releave some of the tension in them. His gaze drifted down to the parking lot below, his eyes widening when he saw Kenny, Mark, Carley, Katjaa and Lilly all sitting in the various chairs they had set out in a circle around a small fire.

"Guess I'm not the only one not able to sleep." he said to himself before heading down to the parking lot. The closer he got, the clearer the conversation they were having became.

"It's the right choice Lilly." Kenny growled at the woman across from him.

"I don't care what YOU think is the right choice." Lilly hissed back. "You can't just up and change everything just because things seem at their worst."

"It's not just his decision." Carley spoke up. "We ALL have come to this decision, you just refuse to accept it."

Lilly stood up and stormed off toward her room, "You're all making a mistake in doing this." she said over her shoulder at them. Jason watched her go with a raised eyebrow before approaching the circle and making himself known.

"Jason? You're still up?" asked Katjaa as he sat down in Lilly's empty seat.

"Can't be up if I never went down." he replied leaning back and staring into the fire. "I miss anything important?"

There was silence for a few brief moments before Mark spoke. "We were all talking about something pretty important." the fighter looked his way, wondering what had been on their minds. "After what happened...back at the farm, we thought that there should be some changes."

Kenny nodded, "And the first thing that we needed to do was find someone who would put the needs of this group ahead of everything else. Someone who would make the right decisions and face the hard choices that none of us have ever been able to make."

All eyes went on Jason and he knew right then and there what they were referring to. "Are you telling me that you all..." he trailed off as the group nodded.

"We had a vote." said Carley, "And we agreed that you should be the leader of this group."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the fighter muttered a couple of curses under his breath. "Why?" he asked looking back up at them. "Why me? What makes you believe that I would be any better at looking after things than Kenny or Lilly?"

"Your quick thinking has gotten us out of more trouble than we can possibly recall." said Katjaa. "If it wasn't for you, none of us would have escaped the dairy."

"And you've proven time and time again that you know what you're doing." added Mark. "Whether it's dealing with the walkers, or handling stuff here with the group. Everyone always feel safer when you're the one watching out for us. Christ, I would have DIED back when the bandits attacked if you hadn't come up with that plan so fast."

"And you're instincts were right on the money with what was happening back there." said Kenny. "Not to mention you saved Duck and Kat...AGAIN, because you put their lives ahead of your own. I can't tell you how much that means to us."

Jason bit his lip, mulling over their words as he tried to find something to say about it all. Carley reached out and held his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Jase, I know that this is a lot to take in. We're not telling you to just jump right into it, take some time to think. But this group...we need someone that we KNOW will do what's right. And thus far, you've never led us wrong."

He sighed, "That's not what has me so undecided." looking to each of them, he explained. "I have my hands full making sure that Clementine is okay. Taking care of eight other people on top of that?" he shook his head. "Up till this point I believed that I had some kind of lucky streak that got me this far, I can't help but think that at some point my luck will run out."

"I'm not perfect, guys. Do you realize that? If I start leading this group, I'm going to be making decisions that will affect us all. Some of them you won't like, and some of them you may question whether or not you made the right choice. Can you honestly tell me that you're that willing to put your lives into the hands of someone like me?"

It was the ultimate question that summed everything up. Jason knew that his knowledge could help them with anything that they needed. He was good at what he was able to do, the past three months proving that he could do whatever it took to survive this infested hell of a world as well as keep his young charge safe.

But to be the LEADER of their little band of survivors? That was something else entirely.

It wouldn't just be Clementine he would be responsible for. All the people at the motor inn would look to him when things got bad, that kind of pressure was something he wasn't familiar with and it made him a bit hesitant that they were all willing to hand over that kind or responsibility that easily.

However...he'd never backed down from a challenge before in his life. And if they really wanted him to lead things, he'd just have to take it one step at a time. But he needed to be sure that this was what they really wanted.

So he waited as the others thought long and hard on his words. Carefully going over what they knew before coming to their answer.

"Yes." said Kenny sending a look of conviction his way.

"I can too." added Katjaa.

"Same here." said Mark.

"Me was well." finished Carley with a nod.

The fisherman sat up straighter as he looked at his friend, "And it's not just luck that got you this far, friend. For someone as young as you to be able to pull off half the shit you've done, plus taking good care of that little girl, there's gotta be something special about you that got you here."

The fighter looked around the circle before going back to the fire. "I'm gonna need some time to think on this. Give me until the sun starts to set later today, and I'll let you all know." he got acknowledgements all around as they all settled in and started talking about what their next step should be now that they had supplies.

Mark was still pretty dead-set on staying now that they had supplies. But Kenny, Katjaa and Carley had all agreed that the place was still pretty exposed and they needed to move on sooner or later. There was no telling if there were more people like the St. Johns or the bandits still roaming around Macon.

Jason half-listened to the conversation as he continued to think about the choice of whether or not to be head of the group. It was an important job and he couldn't make take this lightly. If anything happened to anyone it was on him and no one else. If they ran out of food again, water, medical supplies, or anything else it'd be his job to try and find out how they could get more.

Hours had slipped by, the sky started to get lighter and lighter with the coming morning. By that point everyone had decided to turn in and see if they could get at least a little more sleep before they had to be up and start another day.

Kenny patted Jason on the shoulder as he and Kat went to the room they shared with Duck. Mark doing the same before disappearing into his room while the fighter began trudging his way up the stairs to his own. Stumbling a bit because of fatigue finally settling in.

A pair of smaller arms slipped around his waist and helped support him. Looking to his right, he found Carley helping him the rest of the way up. "Don't worry yourself too much on what COULD go wrong." she said, almost as though she were reading his thoughts. "You won't be alone in this. And we'll all help you as much as you've helped us."

They reached his door and she released him, "I just need to be sure that I'm the one for the job. Can't afford to make too many mistakes with what's going on around us." he admitted as they shuffled along.

Carley smiled, "The fact that you're taking all this into serious consideration proves that you're more than perfect for it. We just need to stick together, and in the end, we'll be alright. No matter how big or small our group gets."

Jason smiled at her, "Thanks, Carls. It's good to know you guys understand."

The reporter nodded, hesitating a moment before she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Get some sleep, you're gonna need it." without another word she entered her own room and closed the door.

Standing there stunned for a brief moment, the fighter shook himself before going into his own room. Finding Clementine still out like a light, he removed his jacket and shoes before crawling into his own bed. Slipping into a dreamless sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

X

_He couldn't understand where he was, everything was pure chaos. Gunfire and explosions ripped through the air, rounds peppered the grass and kicking up dirt all around him as he rolled out of harms way and hid behind an old barrel used for water. _

_Beretta in hand, he fired on the ones shooting at him and the others. Managing to take down two assailants before being forced to go back into cover so he could reload. Vaguely hearing someone shouting his name, looking back toward the building he saw Maggie and Clementine screaming before a burst of pain erupted on his right shoulder._

_A stray bullet tearing through his arm and sending him spiraling to the ground, blood staining the grass as he attempted to drag himself back to safety. He barely got four feet when a heavy boot kicked him in the side, flipping him over so that he was facing the sky where a sinister figure glared down at him._

_One eye covered with an eye-patch, the other filled with murder and madness as he aimed a revolver at his head. "You don't belong here." he said clearly over the firefight going on around them just before the gun discharged._

X

Jason snapped awake in a cold sweat, breath coming out in short gasps as his heart rate slowly started to return to normal.

He'd been having dreams similar to this for the last month, each one more realistic than the last to the point that it was hard to tell that they were even dreams. And every one having the same outcome toward the end.

At first he believed that he was reliving moments in the Walking Dead universe from what he remembered watching back at home. But over time it was harder to put belief in that. They almost felt like premonitions, visions of things to come in the near future if things continue a certain way.

On more than one occasion he had once wondered if he could change things for the better when the time came. But after a while it became apparent that the chances of him even encountering the group from Atlanta that would call the prison home was between slim and nill. And he couldn't focus on something like that when his own situation was too important to divert his attention.

"Jason?" he snapped his head to the side and saw Clementine standing in the doorway of their room. "Are you okay? You've been asleep for a while, it's almost lunch time."

Taking a deep breath as the last legs of the dream faded. "I'm okay Clem, just bad dreams, that's all." he admitted while running a hand through his hair.

His charge closed the door and came over to sit on the edge of the bed. "Duck told me that his parents want you to be our group's leader. That everyone voted and want you to take care of everything."

The fighter nodded, "Yeah. We talked about it last night while you guys were sleeping."

"Are you going to do it?" he looked over at her to see an imploring look in her eyes.

"I don't know," Jason said with a shrug. "It's a big responsibility. I don't think I'm the best for the job."

Clementine played with the hem of her new hoodie, "But, you do a good job of it already." she looked up at him, "You listen to everyone, you help people when they need it, and you do whatever it takes to protect others. You take good care of me, I know you can do the same for everyone else."

Letting her words sink in, he gave her a smile before ruffling her hair through her hat. "Good to know I've got such a strong cheering section. So you really think I can do this?"

His charge nodded anxiously, "Yes. And I know everyone will be there for you."

_"Everyone but Lilly, apparently."_ he couldn't help but think. "Where is everyone else?"

"Down in the parking lot having lunch, I came up here to see if you were awake. Katjaa said that you deserved to sleep in, but I thought you'd be hungry."

Jason got out of bed and pulled his shoes on, "Well, let's not keep them waiting." Clementine nodded as they left their room and headed down where everyone was gathered around the picnic table they had set up and having a small lunch. Lilly was in her spot on the RV acting as lookout as the duo joined them.

Kenny was the first to notice them and nodded, "Bout time you got up, rough sleep?"

"You can say that." the fighter replied taking a spot between Mark and Ben, grabbing a couple of energy bars from the table and starting to eat.

"Did you think about what we talked about last night?" asked Carley from her spot by Katjaa.

Looking toward Clementine who gave him a thumbs up and a smile of encouragement, he turned to the group before standing. "I have." Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave him their full attention.

"You gotta understand my hesitance with an immediate answer. With everything going on around us rash decisions aren't good, and after what happened the other day...I really needed to think on it before deciding."

Squaring his shoulder, he looked at each person around him. People that would be counting on him and depending on his strength to carry him through this hell and hopefully to a good friends, and the only people that he had come to rely on in these past few months.

"I still think I'm not the right person to do this...but if you all think I have the capability," he smirked, "Then I'll do my goddamn best to be sure that we make it through this bullshit." The whole group let out a collective breath and grinned widely. Mark patted him on the back as they all settled back down to eat and began talking about what they should be doing next.

From her position, Lilly shook her head disdainfully. _"They'll regret this..."_ the thought bitterly as she went back to her sentry duty.

**A/N: There's a twist a couple of you were probably expecting. With Jason now running the show, and almost everyone rallying behind him, how much more will things change farther down the road? Only time will tell. But for now, here are the results of the pairing poll:**

**Maggie: 29**

******Carley: 20**

******The poll is now closed...and MAGGIE came out on top in a landslide. Let me tell you, it had been pretty damn close more than once since I announced this. Now with the answer that I needed, I can put the rest of the story with the romance option now solved. It'll be a while before its all put into place, but it'll all be worth the wait and you all will be fairly impressed with how it'll all turn out.**

******Drop a review, and the next installment will be here soon.**


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